Barlow, Anne and Probert, Rebecca. (1999) Cohabitatants [sic] : a survey of European reforms. The New Law Journal, Vol.149 (No.6913). pp. 1738-1740. ISSN 0306-6479

Abstract

In the UK, the debate over the reform of the law relating to cohabitants has focused on the inadequacy of the law of trusts as a means of determining rights in the family home. However, the motivation for the reform should not limit it. This brief survey of the approach to cohabitants in other European jurisdictions is intended to indicate both the range of solutions and what has been found to be politically acceptable – or unacceptable – elsewhere. While it is acknowledged that it is not possible simply to transpose legislation from one state to another without considering the factors that influenced its provisions, it should be noted that no country has a particularly long tradition of dealing with cohabitation. It is only recently that the institution of marriage has been displaced as the exclusive means by which legal rights are triggered. Thus there is, to a certain extent, a blank canvas.

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