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Difference between revisions of "Unmarried Spouses"
From Clicklaw Wikibooks
→Qualifying as an Unmarried Spouse
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==Qualifying as an Unmarried Spouse== | ==Qualifying as an Unmarried Spouse== | ||
It's usually pretty hard to argue that you're not married if you're a married spouse. It's a lot easier for unmarried couples to argue about the status of their relationship, and the stakes | It's usually pretty hard to argue that you're not married if you're a married spouse. It's a lot easier for unmarried couples to argue about the status of their relationship, and the stakes can be quite high. If a couple were just roommates, for example, neither of them will be able to ask for a share of the family property or for a contribution to the family debt, and neither will be able to ask the other to pay spousal support. | ||
===Living Together=== | ===Living Together=== | ||
This requirement of an unmarried spousal relationship is fairly self-explanatory. An unmarried couple who have lived together and had a child together are spouses who are eligible to ask for spousal support, regardless of how long or how short a period of time they lived together. An unmarried | This requirement of an unmarried spousal relationship is fairly self-explanatory. An unmarried couple who have lived together and had a child together are spouses who are eligible to ask for spousal support, regardless of how long or how short a period of time they lived together. An unmarried couple who have lived together for at least two years are spouses who are eligible to ask for spousal support and orders about the division of property and debt. | ||
The only thing that needs to be pointed out is that the two year period doesn't need to be continuous. On the other hand, if a claim is based on the parties being unmarried spouses, the court will probably look at the nature of the relationship in more detail. A gap of a three of months in the middle of the two years a couple are supposed to have lived together might prevent someone from claiming that a couple are spouses; on the other hand, if the three months absence was because someone was working out of town, the three months may not matter very much. | |||
The only thing that needs to be pointed out is that the two year period doesn't need to be continuous. On the other hand, if a claim is based on the parties being | |||
===A Marriage-Like Relationship=== | ===A Marriage-Like Relationship=== | ||
