Unmarried Couples, Law, and Public Policy.
Title:
Unmarried Couples, Law, and Public Policy.
Author:
Bowman, Cynthia Grant.
ISBN:
9780199707140
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (287 pages)
Contents:
Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- CHAPTER 1 Cohabitation in the United States: The Past -- 1. Criminalization of Cohabitation -- 2. Common Law Marriage and Related Fictions -- 3. Denial of Benefits to Cohabitants: A Case Study of Illinois -- 4. The Inadequacy of Equitable Remedies -- CHAPTER 2 Legal Treatment of Cohabitation in the United States Today -- 1. Cohabitants' Rights Based on Contract -- 2. Cohabitants' Rights Based on Status -- 2.1. Meretricious Relationships in Washington -- 2.2. Domestic Partnership Laws -- 3. Rights Against Third Parties -- 3.1. Benefits from the State -- 3.2. Tort Claims Against Third Parties -- 3.3. Health-Related Benefits -- 4. Cohabitants and Their Children -- CHAPTER 3 Cohabitation in the United States Today -- 1. The 1960s -- 2. Change over Time -- 2.1. Statistics -- 2.2. Rate and Age of Marriage -- 2.3. Predictions -- 3. Who Cohabits and Why? -- 3.1. College Students and Young Dating Singles -- 3.2. Variations by Income -- 3.3. Variation by Race and Ethnic Group: African Americans -- 3.4. Variation by Race and Ethnic Group: Latino/as -- 3.5. Divorced Persons -- 3.6. The Elderly -- 3.7. Other Characteristics -- CHAPTER 4 Social Science and Cohabitation -- 1. The Pioneers -- 2. Trends in the Literature -- 3. What Social Science Has Told Us About Cohabitation -- 3.1. Duration of Cohabiting Unions -- 3.2. The Economics of Cohabiting Relationships -- 3.3. Quality of the Relationship -- 3.4. Domestic Violence and Cohabitation -- 3.5. Impact of Cohabitation on Children -- 3.6. What We Know: A Summary -- 4. Implications of the Social Science Findings -- CHAPTER 5 Treatment of Cohabitation in Other Nations -- 1. England: Nonrecognition and Piecemeal Benefits -- 2. Canada: The New Common Law Marriage? -- 3. De Facto Relationships in Australia.
4. The Netherlands: A Cafeteria Approach to Cohabitants' Rights -- 5. France: Concubinage and the Pacte Civil de Solidarité -- 6. Sweden and Neutrality Between Cohabitation and Marriage -- CHAPTER 6 A New Law for Cohabitants in the United States -- 1. Recommendations for Reform of U.S. Law -- 1.1. Imposition by Law of Quasi-marital Status on Cohabitants After Two Years or a Child -- 1.2. The Ability of Cohabitants to Contract Out of Obligations -- 1.3. A System of Registration for Domestic Partnerships -- 2. The Impact of the Proposed Reforms on Marriage -- 2.1. Incentives and Marriage -- 2.2. Cross-historical and Cross-national Comparisons -- 3. The Impact of the Proposed Reforms on Various Groups of Cohabitants -- Conclusion -- References -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y.
Abstract:
In Unmarried Couples, Law, and Public Policy, Cynthia Grant Bowman explores legal recognition of opposite-sex cohabiting couples in the United States. Unmarried cohabitation has increased at a phenomenal rate in the U.S. over the last few decades, but the law has not responded to the legal issues raised by this new family form. Although a majority of cohabiting unions dissolve within the first two years, many are longer in term and function like other families; a large number of children also reside in these households. If one partner dies, is injured, or leaves the family, the remaining family members are left in an extremely vulnerable position in almost every state without any type of survivors' benefits, compensation for loss of a wage-earning partner, or remedies similar to those available upon dissolution of a marriage. The author argues that the many benefits attendant upon formal marriage should be extended to cohabitants who have lived together for more than two years or give birth to a child. In order to avoid these consequences, a couple would need to opt out of them by contract. Professor Bowman reaches this conclusion after a thorough review of the history of the legal treatment of cohabitation in the United States, the inadequacy of the legal remedies available to cohabitants in most states, the now-voluminous social science literature about cohabitation, and the experience of six other countries (England, Canada, Australia, France, The Netherlands, and Sweden) that have attempted a variety of legal reforms to address the problems of cohabitants.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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