The Supreme Court has now affirmed the right of same-sex couples to marry. 20Īt the same time that the number of unmarried cohabitants has swelled, legal movements have risked further isolating these people by cementing the institutional role of marriage. 19 Racial and ethnic disparities are stark.
17 And “persons with low income and economic status” are the most likely to cohabitate without marriage - indeed, “ cohabitation-type relationship is referred to as a ‘poor man’s marriage.’” 18 Elderly and same-sex couples also commonly choose this living arrangement. Census Bureau estimated that over fifteen million people lived together in an unmarried household 16 given the trends, that number is almost certainly higher today. 14 The increase was approximately one thousand percent between 19. households containing unmarried couples increased by over forty percent between 20. 13 A more sedulous employment of restitution, in which the value of domestic labor is appreciated, offers some hope.Ĭareful consideration of this topic, and the development of appropriate legal responses, is of particular importance in light of the disadvantaged socioeconomic status of many unmarried cohabitants, as well as their sheer numbers. 12 In this way, the law is lagging changes in the way people are choosing to structure their family and intimate relationships, and consequently failing signally to protect the interests of millions of people. 11 Those who add to the partnership by working in the home rather than in the labor market are left largely defenseless. 9 Unmarried cohabitants in the United States are generally considered “legal strangers,” 10 meaning that any legal claims available to partners at the relationship’s dissolution must usually be the same as those that any stranger could bring. 6 Despite the growing prevalence and cultural acceptance of this form of household, 7 and wide-ranging support for providing a more diverse menu of family-configuration choices beyond just marriage, 8 legal protections for unmarried cohabitants are limited and largely stagnant. The treatment of unmarried cohabitants stands in jarring contrast. 4 It also explicitly appreciates the economic reality that a spouse who contributes domestic labor to the partnership makes an integral contribution to the development of the partners’ jointly produced property. 3 This approach reflects a conception of marriage that understands the spouses’ relationship as something akin to a commercial partnership, wherein each partner adds economically to the enterprise as a whole, which is in turn greater than the sum of each individual contribution. 2 Courts will look past which partner holds legal title to property and allow for equitable division between the spouses. 1 Notably, extensive rules exist for handling property division at the dissolution of a marriage. Married couples in the United States have an array of legal rights, protections, and obligations.
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