Press Releases — July-September, 2005

Increased Frequency In Cohabitating Couples Raises New Legal Concerns
New Survey Commissioned By LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell’s lawyers.com Finds Younger Generation More Than Twice As Likely To Live Together Before Marriage Than Older One

NEW YORK, NY, July 19, 2005 - For many couples, their first step over the threshold today is likely to come without rings on their fingers. That’s because forty percent of all U.S. adults say they have lived with a romantic partner to whom they were not married, according to a new survey released today that was conducted by Harris Interactive^® and commissioned by lawyers.com^sm, a free online directory of 440,000 attorneys from LexisNexis^® Martindale-Hubbell^®. These arrangements open up a host of legal concerns that did not commonly exist even one generation ago.

"Thirty years ago, unmarried couples living together would be an exceptional occurrence. Today, it’s a common practice," observed attorney Alan Kopit, lawyers.com’s legal editor. "Yet couples are often unaware of the unique legal and financial implications of such arrangements until problems arise."

Without the legal status of marriage, Kopit pointed out, cohabitating couples lack legal protections their married counterparts enjoy.

"In the eyes of the law, the marriage relationship generally supercedes all others, automatically giving spouses rights to make legal and financial decisions for one another if one person is incapacitated, for example" Kopit said. "Unmarried couples may discover during a medical emergency that those decisions are left to blood relatives."

"In addition, in the event of the death of one partner, shared property, including a home, may not be automatically transferred to the survivor," Kopit said.

Documents like powers of attorney for healthcare and finances, which dictate a specific individual who is responsible for making decisions if a person is unable to do so him- or herself, can be particularly important for cohabitating couples, according to Kopit.

"They should also consider how shared property is titled, particularly real estate and bank accounts, to ensure each party has the access and ownership rights they want," he said.

"A cohabitation agreement – a written document outlining a couple’s rights and obligations to each other and their household – is a widely underutilized instrument, but can be extremely helpful in the event the relationship dissolves," Kopit added. "Remember, there’s no divorce court to make decisions in those situations."

Cohabitation Gaining a Foothold in America

America has experienced a sharp increase in the rate of cohabitation. According to U.S. census data, unmarried couples living together increased 72 percent between 1990 and 2000. Moreover, according to the lawyers.com survey results, younger adults are more than twice as likely as their older counterparts to have lived with a romantic partner without a marriage license. Many Americans between thirty-five and forty-four years old (56%) have cohabitated. Less than one-in-four (23%) people over fifty-five have done so.

"Younger couples don’t have the benefit of taking their legal cues from their parents’ generation when it comes to cohabitation," said Kopit, "That makes it particularly important for them to seek out good legal counsel if they enter into these type of relationships."

Other lawyers.com Survey Findings

• Western U.S. Dwellers Most Likely To Have Cohabitated: Nearly one-half (48%) of all Western U.S. adults have lived with a partner, compared to just 34% of Midwesterners and 38% of Northeasterners.
  
• More Divorcees Have Lived With A Partner: Forty-four percent of divorced, separated or widowed American adults have cohabitated, compared with 35% of those who are currently married, and 32% of singletons.