Sir Nicholas Wall Calls For New Rights For Cohabitants On Relationship Breakdown

The president of the Family Division, Sir Nicholas Wall, in an interview with The Times, has called for new rights for cohabitants on relationship breakdown, stating “I am in favour of cohabitees having rights because of the injustice of the present situation.” He went on to highlight the potential injustice caused by the lack of reform of the law relating to cohabitants saying “Women cohabitees, in particular, are severely disadvantaged by being unable to claim maintenance and having their property rights determined by the conventional law of trusts.” Nicholas’s comments follow previous calls for reform. In July 2007 the Law Commission’s report Cohabitation: The Financial Consequences of Relationship Breakdown (Law Com no.307) made recommendations on legislation on cohabiting couples who have had a child together or cohabited for a specified period of time (between two to five years).

The Law Commission also suggested that any legislation could include an opt-out scheme and a requirement for the applicant to show a qualifying contribution, ie that the respondent retained a benefit and/or the applicant had a continuing economic disadvantage as a result of contributions made to the relationship. No further action was taken by the government at that time on the recommendations. In The Times interview Sir Nicholas also suggested that in the event of law reform he believes that the courts should retain their discretion and that If the cohabitation has been short and the contribution minimal, judges would not be sympathetic to a claim.” He went on to refer to a case in which he stated that the original judgment had awarded 90% to the man and 10% to the woman which was reversed by the Court of Appeal to 50/50 split. That case is believed to be Kernott v Jones [2010] All ER (D) 244 (May) in which in fact the original award was 90% to the woman and 10% to the man and is expected to go before the Supreme Court.