A summary of the Cohabitation Rights Bill

The Bill’s Progress and Proposed Reforms for Cohabitants

On 5 June 2026, the Bill was introduced into the House of Lords and simultaneously, the government launched a 10-week consultation titled A Fairer End to Relationships, proposing what the Ministry of Justice has described as “some of the biggest reforms to family law in decades.” 

The Bill has passed the first two readings in the House of Lords as is now at the committee stage; this is a line-by-line examination of the Bill. The committee (any member of the Lords can sit on the committee) will then vote on amends of the Bill. Therefore, it should be noted that the Bill could change quite significantly before it becomes an act of parliament. 

The main purpose of the Bill is to protect the couples who currently live together but are not married nor in a civil partnership (currently around 1 in 4 couples in England and Wales). Specifically, the Bill wants to give cohabitants financial rights to cohabitants who make financial or other contributions to the cohabitation. Secondarily, the Bill seeks to amend the protection to cohabitating couples when one member of the cohabiting couple dies and allow cohabitants to have an interest in the life of the other cohabitant for the purposes of insurance.

The Bill will bring England and Wales in line with Scotland, who already provide legal protections to cohabitants. However, the Bill is quite different to the current cohabitation rights in Scotland – the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006. In Scotland, it is presumed that each cohabitant has a right to an equal share in household goods acquired (other than by gift or succession from a third party) and money during the period of cohabitation. 

Definition of a cohabitant

Under the Bill, a cohabitant is a couple who live together and are the parents of the same child or a childless couple that have lived together continuously for three years or more, and are not married or in a civil partnership. There are some calls for the three year period to be extended as many young couples may be forced to move in with each other due to high living costs and will not have access to independent legal advice.

Financial settlement orders

The main benefit of the Bill is that a former-cohabitant (the applicant) or the court can make a financial settlement order, which will divide the property and provide financial remedies to the applicant. 

The scope of financial settlements is quite broad and there is nothing in the Bill to bar a cohabitant from making an application.  The only requirement is that an application is made within 24-months of ceasing to live with the other co-habitant as a couple. 

Financial settlement orders can be made via:

• payment of a lump sum (including payment by instalments, secured lump sums, lump sums paid by way of pension attachment and interim payments);
• transfer of property;
• property settlements;
• sale of property; and/or
• pension sharing.

If the court considers it is just and equitable to make an order, they can make a financial settlement order if:

• the respondent has retained a financial benefit which was acquired, retained or enhanced during the cohabitation, or
• the applicant suffered an economic disadvantage during the cohabitation. For example, one partner may have made significant financial or non-financial contributions to the relationship, such as giving up employment to care for children, while the other partner has retained a financial benefit.

The above financial benefit/economic disadvantage must be as a result of the financial or other contributions made by the applicant to the shared lives/welfare of the members in the cohabitation/their families.

Opt-out agreements

A couple can enter into an opt-out agreement to financial settlement orders. This agreement must be made in writing and must be accompanied by a certificate by a qualified practitioner that the practitioner has given legal advice about the terms and effect of the proposed opt-out agreement, and in particular, as to its effect on any rights of action the person signing the agreement may have in the event of them ceasing to live together as a couple. As a consequence, the work-load of family law firms may increase as they will have to provide legal advice and will likely draft these opt-out agreements and more broadly cohabitation agreements.

The parties of the agreement may vary or revoke the agreement at any time.

The court may vary or revoke the opt-out agreement only if the court determines that the agreement is manifestly unfair to the applicant because of:

• the circumstances in which the agreement was entered into or varied, or
• any change in the circumstances of either party which was unforeseen at the time the agreement was entered into or varied.

Death

The Bill also makes provisions about the property of deceased persons survived by a cohabitant.

In the event of death, and intestacy (when a person dies without a will), originally only a surviving spouse or civil partner was eligible, but this has been extended to include a qualifying cohabitant.

The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 is amended so that a former cohabitant who receives no reasonable financial provision from the deceased’s estate may apply to the court.

The Fatal Accidents Act 1976 is also amended so that a surviving cohabitant can claim for bereavement damages. 

Insurance

For the purposes of the Life Assurance Act 1774, cohabitants now have an interest in each other’s lives.

Section 11 of the Married Women’s Property Act 1882 now includes cohabitants, therefore cohabitants can set up a life insurance policy for the benefit of each other/one member of the cohabitant. 

Commercial awareness questions

• Why is the Government considering changing the law for cohabiting couples?
• How could the Bill affect family law firms commercially?
• What could be the unintended consequences of giving cohabitants greater legal protection?
• How does the proposed “opt-out” agreement balance personal freedom with protecting vulnerable partners?