Heterosexual cohabitants need to realise one thing: marriage works

IT never rains but it pours. First we have a same-sex couple seeking parity of esteem with married couples and similar tax breaks. Now advocates for cohabiting heterosexual couples are demanding more rights, too.

AIM family services last week called for “realistic legal protection” for cohabiting couples. They want registration of non-marital relationships and recognition of cohabitation contracts. They want inheritance rights for cohabitants and they say courts should have the power to make property adjustment orders after cohabitation arrangements break down.

“Cohabitation,” says AIM, “is often looked upon as a loose arrangement between two people that can be terminated at the whim of either of them. It is the view of some people that parties voluntarily take the risk, no matter how many years they live together, of having no right to financial support if they separate and no right to the estate if their partner dies. That is not a compassionate approach.”