While the number of cohabiting couples in the UK has more than doubled, the numbers of married and lone parent families have remained stable.
Cohabiting couple family numbers more than doubled from 1.5 million families in 1996 to 3.3 million families in 2017.
Despite an increasing number of couples choosing to cohabit and have children without getting married the myth of “common law marriage” persists. Read more in our blog “Unmarried Couples: The Myth of the “Common Law Marriage”” by Martha Gray, barrister at 42 Bedford Row.
In 2017 there were 19.0 million families in the UK; this increased by 15% from 16.6 million in 1996, a rise similar to the growth in the UK population during this 20-year period.
The ONS has released its updated statistical bulletin on “Families and Households: 2017”.
The percentage of dependent children living in cohabiting couple families increased from 7% in 1996 to 15% by 2017.
Dependent children living in a married couple family fell by 9 percentage points to 64%.
The percentage of dependent children living in lone parent families remained practically unchanged at 21% in 2017 compared with 20% in 1996.
Do you cohabit and own a house? Have you thought about what your rights are? It is wise to make sure before your purchase a property, or move into someone else’s home, or move someone into your home, that you think and talk through what you intend your respective legal rights to be, and then get that recorded legally, both on the Land Registry documentation, and in a cohabitation agreement. Read more here.
The R Family by RebeccaVC1
