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A. Treatment of Cohabitants in Other Countries’ Legal Systems

Most developed countries have extended at least some legal rights to cohabitants.
28
In Sweden, where cohabitation became widespread very early, the government was

determined to treat marital status in a neutral fashion, so as to leave individuals free to
choose the lifestyle they desired. It did so in two ways – both by taking away rights that
depended on being married and by extending rights to cohabiting couples. Thus, for

example, Sweden repealed joint income taxation and joint liability for marital debt, and
extended rights to pensions, housing allowances, and the right to sue for loss of

a breadwinner to cohabitants. Cohabitants were exempted from inheritance tax and
made next of kin for medical purposes. Joint homes are divided equally if the relationship
ends. Neither a spouse nor a cohabitant receives support at the end of their union,

however. Rather, in Sweden individuals receive benefits as individuals directly from
the state, including income support, universal health insurance, and child care, so alimony
is not available even to married couples.

In the Netherlands, cohabitants are given a range of choices. They may register
as domestic partners, thereby receiving almost identical rights to married couples, or

enter a contract describing their rights and obligations to each other. If they pursue
neither of these alternatives, they still receive many of the benefits of marriage under

the law, such as those related to social security, income tax, tenancy, state pensions,
inheritance taxes, and immigration.

French law offers entry into a PACS (Pacte Civile de Solidarité) as an alternative
to marriage. By executing such an agreement, a couple may either specify the terms of

their relationship or adopt the terms specified by the law, which include most but not
all of the benefits of marriage. Like entry into a civil union or domestic partnership in
the United States and the Netherlands, this requires individuals to take affirmative action,

which has led me not to endorse such an approach.

28 For more detail on treatment of cohabitation in any of the countries discussed in this section, see
BOWMAN, UNMARRIED COUPLES, LAW, AND PUBLIC POLICY, note 1 above, at 173-220. Because that
book was published in 2010, the information has been updated in this article.

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