Government legal advisers have said that co-habiting couples should be given the same inheritance rights as those who are married, should either one die without making a will. 
There are currently some 5 million Britons who live with their partners but have chosen not to marry. Under the new proposals they would have the same rights to inherit as married couples, once they had been living together for five years. Unmarried couples who have children together would get the same rights after just two years.
The new proposals are not without critics though, as many have slammed the plans and accused the Law Commission, who produced the plan, of trying to encourage cohabitation and undermining marriage as well as attempting to bring in a cohabitation law via the back door.
The Law Commission has said of the new proposals that it “reflects the growing prevalence and public acceptance of cohabitation.” It denies that it is favouring cohabiting couples by pointing out that married couples have these inheritance rights straight away, but cohabiting couples have to wait for five years, or two if they have children.
The commission produced a scheme to give full legal rights to cohabiting partners back in 2007, but although the plan was backed by many lawyers and judges it was shunned by Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke this autumn.
The new law reforms for cohabiting couples cover inheritance for those who have made wills as well as those who haven’t.
The report revealed that if a partner dies the other partner can only inherit their estate after lengthy court proceedings, regardless of how long they have lived together and whether they have any children together.
Jill Kirby, a lawyer and author on the family said: “This is an attempt to bring in a cohabitation law through the back door. Yet again the Law Commission is chipping away at the institution of marriage.”
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