Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to enable cohabiting couples to share financial and property rights.

The Government considers that its existing work underway on the law of marriage and the Law Commission’s work on financial provision on divorce must conclude before considering any change to the law in respect of the rights of cohabitants. This is because any new legal rights and obligations afforded to cohabitants would necessarily need to be considered against a baseline of rights afforded to married parties or civil partners.