The government’s June 2026 consultation, called A fairer end to relationships, is about money, property and inheritance for couples who live together, not about your children. So if you are an unmarried parent, the key point is simple. Your relationship with your child, and any arrangements for them, are decided under the Children Act 1989 and do not depend on whether you were married. The consultation closes on 14 August 2026, and nothing in the law has changed yet.
More than 3.5 million couples in England and Wales now live together without marrying, and they are the fastest growing family type. Many wrongly believe that living together gives them rights like a married couple. It does not. There is no such thing as common law marriage. If you are sorting things out after you separate, the rules about your child are separate from the rules about your money.
What the consultation proposes
The Ministry of Justice is asking for views, not changing the law overnight. The main ideas focus on what happens to finances when a couple separate or one partner dies. You can read the consultation in full, but here is the shape of it.
| Area | Position now | What is proposed |
| On separation | No automatic claim on a partner’s property or income, disputes go through trust law | A new financial framework for qualifying cohabitants |
| Who would qualify | Not applicable | Living together for at least three years, or sharing a child, with the option to opt out |
| If a partner dies without a will | A surviving partner inherits nothing automatically | Automatic inheritance rights for qualifying couples |
| Nuptial agreements | Not automatically binding | Pre and post nuptial agreements made legally binding |
| Domestic abuse | Limited weight in financial decisions | Courts could give more weight to economic and coercive abuse |
These are proposals only. Any change would have to pass through Parliament, so meaningful reform is unlikely to arrive quickly.
Why this is about money, not your children
This is the part that matters most for parents. Child arrangements, who a child lives with and who they spend time with, are not in this consultation. They never depended on marriage in the first place. Whether you split from a husband, a wife or a partner you never married, the court applies the same welfare test under the Children Act 1989. If you are working out child arrangements as separated parents, your marital status is not the deciding factor, your child’s safety is. Where there are concerns, the court can order supervision, and it helps to understand when supervised contact is needed rather than fearing it.
Parental responsibility if you are not married
There is one existing rule worth knowing, separate from the consultation. A mother has parental responsibility automatically. An unmarried father has it if he is named on the birth certificate for a birth registered from December 2003, or through a written agreement or a court order. Parental responsibility shapes decisions about your child, so check your position. You can read the basics of parental responsibility on the government website.
Practical steps to take now
- Sort your child arrangements clearly and in writing, so contact does not rely on goodwill alone.
- Record how you own your home and make a will, because cohabitants still inherit nothing automatically.
- Get advice early if contact is breaking down rather than waiting for a crisis.
Sorting child arrangements through court costs £263 to apply on the C100 form, far less than a contested property dispute, which can run to thousands of pounds in legal fees. If the other parent is keeping your child from you, it helps to know what happens when an arrangement is breached and how court ordered contact services operate. If your situation has changed, you may be able to change an existing arrangement.
How we help when contact is the issue
We are a child focused social work agency, not a finance firm, so we will not advise you on property or inheritance. What we do is the part of separation that involves your child. If contact needs supervising, supervised contact for your child gives the court safe, observed time, and we provide supervised contact support in the community, including where domestic abuse is a factor, which the consultation rightly takes seriously. For parents with intense work patterns, we arrange supervised contact around a demanding job.
Frequently asked questions
Do unmarried parents have the same rights to their children as married parents?
For children, in practice yes. Decisions about where a child lives and who they see are made under the Children Act 1989, on welfare grounds, regardless of marriage. The main thing to check is parental responsibility.
Does this consultation change child arrangements?
No. It deals with finances, property and inheritance between partners. Arrangements for children are governed by separate law and are not part of it.
When does the consultation close?
It closes on 14 August 2026. After that the government will weigh the responses before deciding whether to legislate, so any change would take time.
Do cohabiting partners inherit automatically now?
No. Under the current intestacy rules a surviving partner inherits nothing automatically. The proposals would change that for qualifying couples, but until then a will is the only reliable protection.
Talk to us about your child
If you are separating from a partner and contact with your child is difficult, that is where we can help, whatever your marital status. Speak to our child contact specialists in the North West and email info@childarrange.com for a confidential conversation. We will keep the focus where it belongs, on your child.