By Nancy Anyiam-Osigwe
There’s been a paradigm shift in what was understood to be marriage, nowadays couples live together without sealing the relationship in marriage, whether customarily or statutorily. It has been called different names: some call it common law marriage, others call it trial marriage, but whatever the name is, cohabitation is becoming significant in our society. However, any couple contemplating the idea of cohabiting must give it some consideration.
A valuable question to ask is if the rights, responsibilities and obligations that apply to married couples also apply to cohabiting couples. This relationship can be complicated from a legal perspective, especially regarding issues such as spousal support (financial), property rights, child support and custody, health care issues, estate planning, wills, rights of next of kin.
So, you live together with your partner, you have an exclusive, physically intimate and sexual relationship with your partner, you support each other the way a married couple would, you present and portray yourselves as a couple, you interact as parents with your children, you support each other financially or handle your finances jointly, your family and friends regard you as a married couple, but, does this have any legal implication? Maybe.
For example, in a situation where one of the couple dies, while still living in a cohabiting relationship as described above, if the deceased partner happens to be the one supporting the family financially and has not left a will bequeathing his/her estate to his/her partner, the issue of his/her next of kin is likely to arise in applying for the letters of administration of the estate.
In the event of such a circumstance, the law does not recognize a partner of the deceased as falling under the category of the next of kin, leading to the likelihood that the living partner will not benefit from the estate of the deceased. On the other hand, if a cohabiting couple with a child should separate and matters concerning child support and custody arise, except where the couples reach an agreement on how this may be settled, this would most likely be decided by a court of law, and whatever the decision may be, it will be one made in the best interest of the child after due consideration of the circumstances of the case.
It is important to know the legal ramifications of cohabitation and how these differ based on circumstance – a mother may have custody of the child with the father made to pay for child support, but, may not for inheritance rights. Also, being recognized as a couple does not mean you have the rights and obligations of a married couple.
For these reasons (and many more), speaking with a lawyer about your relationship status, actual or proposed living arrangements and other factors can help you determine what rights and obligations you may have, and help you make informed decisions about many areas of your life that adequately protects the ones you love.