Cohabitation contracts and gender equality

Thompson, Sharon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2569-856X 2024. Cohabitation contracts and gender equality. Probert, Rebecca and Thompson, Sharon, eds. Research Handbook on Marriage, Cohabitation and the Law, Research Handbooks in Family Law, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 352-369. (10.4337/9781802202656.00032)

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Abstract

The purpose of any cohabitation agreement depends upon its context. This includes the jurisdiction’s default legal status of unmarried cohabitants, the economic circumstances of the parties and – perhaps most importantly – the relationship between the parties. Yet in many cases this context is overshadowed by a focus on individual autonomy, thereby insulating the significance of intimacy and interdependency within unmarried cohabitants’ relationships. Through a comparative overview of cohabitation contracts in Scotland and England and Wales, this chapter explores whether cohabitation contracts have the potential to safeguard against the gendered disadvantages and inequalities commonly experienced on relationship breakdown, or if the association of contracts with protection of property is too strong to subvert.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Cardiff Law & Politics
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN:	9781802202649
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2025 15:31
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/183153

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