The 2026 Consultation: How Divorce and Cohabitation Law Could Be About to Change

A genuinely significant government consultation, launched in June 2026, could reshape both cohabitation rights and the financial rules around divorce itself - the biggest proposed shake-up to this area of family law in decades. Here’s what’s actually being proposed, and what’s still just an idea rather than a decided change.

What the consultation covers

The Ministry of Justice consultation, titled ‘A Fairer End to Relationships’, opened on 5 June 2026 and closed on 14 August 2026. It covers three connected areas: reforming the law for cohabitants on separation, reforming the law for cohabitants on intestacy (dying without a will), and reforming financial remedies on divorce itself.

The cohabitation proposals

See our dedicated article on the current lack of cohabitation rights for the full existing legal position. The proposed reforms would give courts access to a broad set of remedies for qualifying cohabitants - broadly, couples who’ve lived together at least three years, or who share a child (with no minimum duration in that case) - including:

• Property adjustment orders, lump sum orders, and pension sharing orders, similar to (though more limited than) those available on divorce.
• Maintenance orders, but only in ‘exceptional circumstances’, reflecting a deliberately stronger emphasis on a clean break than divorce law currently has.
• Automatic inheritance rights if a partner dies without a will, rather than the current position where a cohabiting partner inherits nothing under intestacy at all.

An ‘opt-out’, not an ‘opt-in’, model

A significant feature of the proposal: qualifying cohabitants would be covered automatically once they meet the criteria, unless they formally opt out (via a deed, after both receiving independent legal advice and financial disclosure - similar to how prenuptial agreements are currently treated, see our dedicated article on this). This is a notable design choice that’s attracted criticism (see below) precisely because most couples are unlikely to actively consider opting out, potentially drifting into a legal framework neither had consciously chosen.

Why this wouldn’t make cohabitation identical to marriage

The government has been explicit that cohabitation reform is not intended to create a starting presumption of a 50/50 asset split, unlike the broader discretionary approach used in divorce. Instead, the framework would address defined needs - housing, income, pension provision - assessed more narrowly than the equivalent divorce assessment, intended as a safety net rather than full equivalence with marriage.

The parallel divorce reform proposals

Alongside cohabitation, the consultation also examines reforming financial remedies on divorce itself - an area of law that has developed largely through case law over decades, without a comprehensive statutory framework updating the original 1973 Act (see our dedicated article on how money is currently divided). The consultation reflects long-standing calls, including from the Law Commission, for greater clarity and consistency in how these decisions are made.

Domestic abuse considerations

A specific and significant element of the proposals concerns giving courts more explicit ability to factor in the impact of domestic abuse - including economic or financial abuse, such as controlling money or coercing debt - when deciding financial outcomes, for both divorcing spouses and separating cohabitants.

Genuine criticism of the proposals

Some legal commentators have raised concerns that a three-year cohabitation threshold is strikingly low given how common it is for couples to live together for extended periods before making significant joint financial commitments, and that the proposals risk creating a new, complex, discretionary legal regime alongside - rather than instead of - existing property law, potentially adding complexity rather than the clarity intended.

What this means for you right now

This is a consultation, not a change in the law. Nothing has changed yet, and based on the typical pace of family law reform following a consultation of this kind, legislation is unlikely before 2028 at the earliest. If you’re currently cohabiting or going through a divorce, the existing law (covered throughout this series) - including what a divorce actually costs in 2026 - is what actually applies to you today, and a cohabitation agreement, declaration of trust, and up-to-date will remain the only real protection for unmarried couples in the meantime.

The bottom line

The 2026 consultation represents a genuinely significant potential shift in UK family law, particularly for the 3.6 million or more cohabiting families currently without meaningful legal protection - but it remains at the proposal stage, and current law continues to apply unchanged while the consultation process, and any resulting legislation, plays out over the coming years.