If you ask a class of schoolchildren to draw a picture of “my family”, the results are likely to be very different to the drawings of 25 years ago.
Alongside the traditional nuclear family of married father and mother and their children would probably be single parents, step-families, same-sex couples and families living across different households. Societally, these different combinations are unremarkable, but in legal terms there can be differences in the consequences flowing from them.
The first of these circumstances is relationship breakdown and the ensuing financial arrangements.
The rights and obligations of cohabiting partners are very different to those of couples who are married or in a civil partnership. For instance, there is no equivalent of spousal maintenance for cohabitants.
Another area of difference is when one partner dies without a Will. Again, it is marital status that is key here, not the gender of either partner. In cases where a Will has not been prepared (intestacy), surviving cohabitees should not presume their rights will be the same as those of a spouse, however long-standing their relationship.
Whatever the composition of your family, there are relatively easy ways to prevent such shocks, from writing Wills to making cohabitation or prenuptial agreements. This will help to identify whether there are any legal or financial pitfalls that could apply to your own family arrangements, and head off any subsequent legal disputes or surprises.
As statistics on modern relationships show, not every love story has a happy ending. A few simple legal documents could protect your financial future, and prevent a fairytale romance from turning into a long-running courtroom drama.
Scotland’s modern families
- In 2022 55% of births in Scotland were outside marriage or civil partnership.
- In Scotland, there were more than 30,000 marriages in 2022 – 24% higher than in 2021, and 630 civil partnerships registered – the highest since 2007.
- Divorces granted in Scotland in 2021-22 was 45% higher than the previous year at 8249.
- Single parent families make up 25% of all families in Scotland in 2024.
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Published 28 August 2024.
