Cohabitation and the Law: Myths, Money and the Media

Barlow, Anne; Burgoyne, Carole; Clery, Elizabeth; Smithson, Janet

doi:10.4135/9781849208697.n2

Cited by 19 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Despite the rapid growth in the numbers of people cohabiting, there is evidence of substantial public confusion about the legal rights and responsibilities of cohabitants (Barlow & Duncan ; Barlow et al. , ; Hibbs ; Panades et al. ).…”

Section: The Common Law Marriage Mythmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Drawing on data from the most recent British Social Attitudes Survey (BSAS) to address the issue, Barlow et al. () have shown that a majority of the English and Welsh public believes, erroneously, that unmarried cohabiting couples accrue, over time, similar legal rights and responsibilities to those enjoyed by married couples. This belief has come to be known as the “common law marriage myth.”…”

Section: The Common Law Marriage Mythmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ignorance in Bliss: Modeling Knowledge of Rights in Marriage and Cohabitation

Pleasence¹,

Balmer²

2012

Law Soc Rev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We live our lives against an extensive backdrop of legal rights and responsibilities, yet a growing number of studies indicates low levels of public legal literacy. In the context of opposite‐sex cohabitation and marriage law, this study employs new survey data from the United Kingdom to explore, in detail, how many and which people are ignorant of the law, and what are the nature and origins of erroneous beliefs. We find that people's beliefs about both cohabitation and marriage law are frequently wrong. They are also strikingly similar, and reflect the divergence of social attitudes from the law. Our findings are consistent with the notion that legal literacy links to salience of issue. They are also consistent with recent public legal education initiatives that affected public understanding of cohabitation law, but we argue that social attitudes and the intransigence of erroneous beliefs generally present significant challenges to such initiatives.

show abstract

Section: The Common Law Marriage Mythmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Common Law Marriage Mythmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ignorance in Bliss: Modeling Knowledge of Rights in Marriage and Cohabitation

Pleasence¹,

Balmer²

2012

Law Soc Rev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Les auteurs concluent à une augmentation de l'incertitude dans les réponses et constatent que le mythe n'a régressé que de quatre points de pourcentage en six ans. Alors que 35% des conjoints en union libre répondaient correctement aux questions en 2000, en 2006 ils étaient 39% 64 . Bien qu'il ne nous soit pas possible d'évaluer la qualité de cette campagne médiatique, cette tentative du gouvernement britannique ne semble pas avoir été très concluante.…”

Section: Quelques Pistes De Solution ?unclassified

D'un mythe à l'autre : de l'ignorance des lois à la présomption du choix éclairé chez les conjoints en union libre

Belleau¹

2015

Canadian Journal of Women and the Law

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

D'un mythe à l'autre : de l'ignorance des lois à la présomption du choix éclairé chez les conjoints en union libre Hélène BelleauSeveral countries have responded to the increase in unmarried cohabitation by assuming in their legislation that unmarried spouses are well informed about their rights and responsibilities and that are making an informed decision. This article challenges this assumption by addressing three underlying propositions. An analysis of international literature shows that (1) legal issues are rarely considered in couples' decisions whether to marry or not;(2) the scope of ignorance about the law and the types of ''mistakes'' encountered speak to the fact that citizens' legal intuition is based on what they think reflects the reality around them and on what they believe to be fair; and (3) spouses often avoid anticipating the break-up because doing so may have a real, negative cost on the conjugal relationship itself. A better knowledge of the law would therefore not necessarily lead spouses to protect themselves from the negative consequences of a break-up. Improving the legal knowledge of those directly concerned, while necessary, does not seem promising. This conclusion leads the author to propose another solution: imposing on couples a basic framework while allowing them to conclude agreements modifying that framework or even opting out of it.Plusieurs pays ont réagi à l'augmentation des unions libres sur le plan juridique en présumant que les conjoints non mariés sont bien informés des droits et responsabilités qui les concernent et qu'ils prennent une décision éclairée. Cet article ébranle cette présomption en traitant de trois prépositions sous-jacentes. L'analyse de la littérature internationale montre (1) que les questions juridiques entrent rarement dans la décision des couples de se marier ou non; (2) que l'étendue des méconnaissances des lois et la nature des « erreurs » commises témoignent du fait que l'intuition juridique des citoyens s'appuie sur ce qu'ils croient refléter la réalité qui les entoure et ce qu'ils croient être juste ; et (3) que les conjoints évitent souvent d'anticiper la rupture, car le faire peut avoir un coût négatif très réel sur CJWL/RFD

show abstract

“…In countries like the UK, the lack of any legal protection if a couple splits up or one partner dies without leaving a will may be a factor but even those who are aware of this risk tend to disregard it when making their financial arrangements (Barlow, Burgoyne, Clery, & Smithson, 2008). In contrast, around half of established married couples in the UK use a pooling system, and independent management is rare (Pahl, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marital commitment, money and marriage preparation: What changes after the wedding?

Burgoyne

Reibstein

Edmunds

et al. 2010

Community & Applied Soc Psy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper explores conceptions of commitment and styles of money management in heterosexual couples at two points in time: Just before the wedding (T1) and about a year later (T2). It also examines the potential effects of using FOCCUS as a form of marriage preparation (MP). Forty-two couples were recruited at T1 and randomly allocated to either A MP group and a group that would not be offered any marriage preparation -the Non-Marriage Preparation group (NMP). Individual, indepth, semi-structured interviews were carried out at T1 and T2, recorded and fully transcribed. A thematic analysis (TA) yielded three themes or levels of commitment which were used to categorize couples at T1 and T2. Their money management styles were defined based on Pahl's (1989) typology. The results showed that conceptions of commitment had developed slightly overall by T2, and had been enhanced in the MP group. At T2, a more elaborated conception of commitment was associated with a greater tendency to treat money as a collective resource.

show abstract

Cohabitation and the Law: Myths, Money and the Media

Cited by 19 publications

References 2 publications

Ignorance in Bliss: Modeling Knowledge of Rights in Marriage and Cohabitation

Ignorance in Bliss: Modeling Knowledge of Rights in Marriage and Cohabitation

D'un mythe à l'autre : de l'ignorance des lois à la présomption du choix éclairé chez les conjoints en union libre

Marital commitment, money and marriage preparation: What changes after the wedding?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About