The Annual FRS Network/Butler-Sloss Family Law Lecture

Unlocking Cohabitation Reform in England and Wales: New Dimensions and Directions

Cohabitation reform has stalled in England and Wales. This is despite the fact cohabitants are the fastest growing family form and that they often face relationship-generated disadvantage upon separation and death. This presentation asks why that is the case and explores the existing barriers to securing increased legal protections. It will then reflect on whether recent developments in this field such as the Women and Equalities Committee’s Inquiry and strategic human rights litigation add new dimensions to this debate. If we view this issue differently and redirect the campaign, can we ultimately unlock cohabitation reform?

Bio

Dr Andy Hayward is an Associate Professor in Family Law at Durham Law School and an Academic Fellow of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. His research explores from both domestic and comparative law perspectives the legal regulation of adult relationships, in particular, marriage, civil partnership and cohabitation. In 2021, he was appointed Specialist Adviser to the Women and Equalities Committee of the UK Parliament for their inquiry, The Rights of Cohabiting Partners. Recent publications include The Future of Registered Partnerships – Family Recognition beyond Marriage? (Intersentia, 2017) (with Prof Jens Scherpe), ‘Equal Civil Partnerships, Discrimination and the Indulgence of Time’ (2019) 82(5) Modern Law Review 922, ‘The Steinfeld Effect: Equal Civil Partnerships and the Construction of the Cohabitant’ [2019] 31(4) Child and Family Law Quarterly 283, The Legal Status of De Facto Relationships (Intersentia, 2023, forthcoming) (with Prof Jens Scherpe) and the Research Handbook on Family Property and the Law (Edward Elgar, 2023, forthcoming) (with Prof Margaret Briggs).

Audience

This event is for invited GW4 University staff and students and the wider family law academic and practitioner community, interested in the issues raised by this lecture. To ensure admission, please use your university or practice email.

Itinerary 

• 17:30 - admission to Zoom

Registration

Please register using the 'register' link on this page. You will only be sent the Zoom link once you have registered.

Respect

We would remind all attendees to be courteous and respectful during the event. Please make sure that your mics are off unless you are supposed to be speaking to reduce background noise, and that you keep speech, as well as behaviour on camera, respectful and considerate of others. Aggressive and/or discriminatory behaviour of any kind can result in perpetrators being removed from the event without warning, and follow up disciplinary action may be taken. If you are removed from the event, you will be unable to re-enter it.

Data protection and privacy

• To aid organisation of this event, attendee information may be shared with relevant staff in the University and partner organisations. For example, a list of attendees could be provided to speakers, or catering choices to our caterers.
• We will store your information securely, so that we can communicate to you about the event (for example, cancellation of event, changes to the itinerary, a satisfaction survey or links to more information).
• We delete our access to personal information on Eventbrite after 6 months.
• For more information on Eventbrite’s own privacy policy, please visit this page. More information on the University’s privacy policies can be found here.