People 'mistakenly believe' cohabiting couples have marriage rights

A vast proportion (46%) of people in England and Wales still believe that cohabiting couples have the same rights as couples that are legally married, research from the National Centre for Social Research has revealed - a figure which has barely changed over the past 14 years (47% in 2005) The British Social Attitudes Survey, which is commissioned by the University of Exeter and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, also found that people are significantly more likely to believe in common law marriage when children come into the equation, 55% compared to 41% of households w...