Legal News
Cohabitation of Unmarried Couples Provides Divorce Firewall (26 September 2011)
Date: 26/09/2011
The increase in the number of cohabiting unmarried couples may be providing a “firewall” to prevent unstable relationships from ending in divorce later in life, research claims. In the early 1960s, less than one in 100 adults under 50 years of age were cohabiting as unmarried couples, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found. Today, the figure has risen to one in six, with cohabitation more widely accepted than ever before. Yet since a peak in the early 1970s, the number of couples choosing to wed has fallen.
The research, conducted by University of Southampton academics, revealed that adults were increasingly delaying relationship commitments by an average of two years in comparison to the 1980s. The study found that marriage came five years later. In around 80 per cent of marriages, couples spend a period of time cohabiting before formalising their commitment to each other.
International studies have suggested that those who cohabit before they marry are increasingly likely to separate than those who cohabite following their wedding. However, the ONS researchers claimed that the increase in cohabitation could be viewed as “promoting rather than competing with marriage”.
In recent years, Britain’s divorce rates have fallen slightly, suggesting that couples who marry are less likely to divorce than in the past. The reports suggested that unstable relationships between cohabiting couples were more likely to fail before marriage, potentially “stabilising” divorce rates amongst newly married couples.
Duncan Lewis’ family law solicitors can provide legal advice on cohabiting before and during marriage. The team have strong links with Duncan Lewis’ housing and conveyancing department and can therefore provide advice on a wide range of legal issues.