Thursday 29 October 2009

Inheritance Rights For Cohabitees

How could they prove it?

You'd have to sign something, so why not the register of marriages?

I'm sorry, but I don't understand.
Posted by at

10 comments:

  1. Cones29 October 2009 at 15:28

    "I'm sorry, but I don't understand."

    Don't worry David, it's not about you. It's for people who want to cohabit but who, for whatever reason, don't want to get married.

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  2. JJGM29 October 2009 at 15:41

    Neither do I.
    I routinely amend any form which would have me describe my wife of 27 years as my "partner".
    She isnt.

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  3. David Lindsay29 October 2009 at 16:29

    Cones, but how could they prove it? You'd still have to sign something. If you don't want the inheritance rights of marriage, don't get married. And if you don't get married, don't expect the inheritance rights of marriage.

    John, a friend of mine who is a senior Labour Councillor always does that. My father used to cross out the "or fore" in "Christian or forname", but the "Christian" option no longer appears.

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  4. Rod29 October 2009 at 16:31

    If it ever came down to it, there would be an enormous amount of evidence that two people had lived together: electoral register, utility bills, signed rental contracts or mortgage agreements. That's not counting any amount of eyewitness statements from parents, neighbours, family etc.

    I don't think it's quite the obstacle you make it out to be.

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  5. David Lindsay29 October 2009 at 16:36

    It's a lot more complicated than simply signing the marriage register.

    All sorts of people are in the situation that you describe but their relationship is not - how shall we put this? - quasi-marital. In the days when I worked in a benefits office, people who lived at the same address and had children together were sometimes ruled not to be partners when investigated for fraud, on the grounds that past intimacy proved nothing about the present. You can't get away with that if you are married. You are just married.

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  6. Chummy29 October 2009 at 16:41

    It's not complicated at all - all the stuff Rod listed happens anyway, as a naatural function of living together. There's no special effort required whatsoever.

    All your proposal does is transform marriage from a binding commitment before God to a mere legal formality. Anyone who signs a register just to make sure they'll inherit doesn't really respect the institution of marriage - they're just ticking the boxes.

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  7. David Lindsay29 October 2009 at 16:49

    This is precisely about legal marriage. You already don't need to go anywhere near a church for that. And what is theologically wrong with the inheritance aspect of marriage? Nothing. Quite the reverse, in fact. It's not the totality. But it is integral, and it is important. Legally. And theologically.

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  8. JJGM29 October 2009 at 18:44

    It strikes me that a man can only have one wife but the possibility for legal wrangles over co-habiting is endless. As Jolly Jack Tar might put it a "girl in every port".

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  9. Neil30 October 2009 at 11:49

    Isn't the relevant document called a will?

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  10. David Lindsay30 October 2009 at 12:50

    But not everyone leaves a will, Neil.

    JJGM, benefits are already payable for "polygamous partners". Seriously.

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