It’s a bit of a myth when people say she or he is my common law wife or husband, there is no such thing. Unfortunately, the laws in this country don’t protect unmarried couples as they do married couples. For example, if you own a property together, and one of you have made a huge contribution to that but you own it jointly, the court is likely to follow the legal title of the property. Additionally, if you have been living together for a very long time, you won’t be entitled to any maintenance. You won’t be entitled to any pension rights. So, you’re quite unprotected in a way and people often sadly think that they have the same rights. You’d have to rely on trust law which can be very complicated and costly unfortunately.
