Cohabitation and divorce law reform — what the 2026 consultation actually means for you

If you live with a partner and are not married to them, the law currently offers you almost nothing when that relationship ends. That is not a drafting oversight. It is the settled position in England and Wales, and it has been for decades. What has changed, this year, is that the Government has finally committed to looking at it — which is a different thing from changing it, and the distance between the two is exactly where you are standing right now.

This is the most consequential moment in family law reform in a generation, and the most important thing to understand about it is also the least exciting: nothing has changed yet, and nothing will change quickly.

What was actually announced

On 10 November 2025, in a House of Lords debate, Baroness Levitt KC confirmed that the Government would launch a wide-ranging consultation on the law governing financial outcomes when relationships end — covering divorce, civil partnership dissolution, and cohabitation together, rather than in isolation. That consultation is now open: it was published on 5 June 2026 and closes on 14 August 2026. It is a manifesto commitment — but a consultation opening is a long way from the law changing.

The decision to look at cohabitation and divorce finances in tandem is deliberate. The thinking is that you cannot sensibly reform one type of relationship breakdown while leaving the others untouched, because where the lines fall between them is the whole question.

For divorcing couples, the backdrop is a law that is genuinely old. The framework governing financial outcomes still rests on the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 — over fifty years old — and the Law Commission’s 2024 scoping paper set out four possible models for reforming it, ranging from clearer statutory definitions to property-based systems used in other jurisdictions. The Commission’s diagnosis was that the current law does not provide a cohesive framework in which couples can expect a fair and sufficiently certain outcome, and that the wide discretion given to the family court can promote disputes rather than settlements.

That last point matters more than it looks. Discretion sounds like flexibility. In practice, it is the reason two reasonable people, advised by two competent solicitors, can hold genuinely different views about what is fair — and the reason cases settle late, or not at all.

The common law marriage myth — the belief that does the most damage

There is one belief that causes more financial harm in this area than any other, and it is worth stating plainly: there is no such thing as common law marriage in England and Wales. Cohabitation alone does not create financial claims between partners, regardless of duration. It does not matter whether you have lived together for two years or twenty. It does not matter that you raised children together, or that one of you gave up earnings to do it.

The numbers tell you why this is now a national problem rather than an edge case. Cohabiting couple families are the fastest-growing family type in the UK, with the number rising from 3.1 million in 2014 to 3.5 million in 2024. A great many of those couples are operating on an assumption about their rights that is simply false — and the structure of the harm is consistent. The gap between expectation and reality leaves individuals and families exposed, particularly where one partner has made financial or career sacrifices.

The cruelty of it is in the timing. People do not discover the gap when they move in together, or when they buy a sofa, or when the second child arrives. They discover it at the point of separation, when there is nothing left to be done about it.

Why the consultation is the beginning, not the end

A consultation is the first step in a long sequence, and it is worth being honest about how long. The order of events is: consultation, then analysis of responses, then a Government decision on whether and how to legislate, then — if it gets that far — a Bill, parliamentary time, and an implementation date that typically lands months or years after Royal Assent.

There is also a real question of whether the timetable survives the Parliament. Now that the consultation is open, attention turns to what follows it — and commentators have observed that the timeline raises questions about whether the reforms can be fully legislated during the current Parliament. This area has a long history of consultations that did not become law — the Law Commission made cohabitation recommendations in 2007, and again on intestacy in 2011, and neither was implemented. The momentum this time feels different. It has felt different before.

So the honest framing is this. The law is being looked at. That is genuine progress and worth watching. But “being looked at” changes nothing about the position you are in this month, this year, or — realistically — for some time after.

What this actually means for you

If you are married and heading towards divorce, the law that will decide your financial outcome is the law as it stands today: wide judicial discretion, a fifty-year-old statute, and outcomes that turn heavily on full and frank disclosure and on the quality of the preparation each side brings to the table. The reform debate does not touch your case.

If you are cohabiting, the steps that protect you are the ones available under current law — a cohabitation agreement, clarity about how property is owned, a will. None of these is a substitute for the rights you do not have, but each closes part of the gap the law leaves open, and each has to be done now, while there is still a relationship to document, not at the point when one of you is leaving.

If you do not understand where you stand under the current law, find out before you make any decision that depends on the answer — and if your situation is genuinely contested, that is the point to take advice rather than to guess. The reform may come. The cost of getting the present wrong, while you wait for it, is almost never recoverable.

Questions people actually ask

Do cohabiting couples have the same rights as married couples?

No. Cohabitation alone creates no financial claims between partners in England and Wales, however long the relationship and whatever was sacrificed within it. That is the current law, and the consultation has not changed it.

When will cohabitation law actually change?

Unknown — and realistically, not soon. The consultation opened on 5 June 2026 and closes on 14 August 2026; after that comes analysis of responses, a Government decision, a Bill and parliamentary time. This area has a history of consultations that went nowhere. Plan on the current law.

How can cohabiting couples protect themselves now?

A cohabitation agreement, clarity about how the property is owned — and recorded — and a will. Each closes part of the gap the law leaves open, and each has to be done while the relationship is intact, not at the point of separation.

— Clarity