TENS OF thousands of unmarried partners may now be entitled to maintenance payments, a share of property or pensions from former partners in the event of a break-up or death, a group representing unmarried parents has said.
Treoir, which promotes the rights of unmarried parents and their children, said yesterday it has received a large number of inquiries about the new rights created by the Civil Partnership Act, which came in to force in January.
At the launch of a nationwide information campaign on the new law, Treoir said it represented an amazing step forward in rights for cohabiting couples. But it said the issue had received far less media attention than the arrangements in the Act regarding civil partnerships for same-sex couples.
Under the new Act, couples living together for five years, or two years if they have a child together, can apply for maintenance, property, pension or inheritance rights if their relationship ends. The rules apply to cohabitants in an intimate and committed relationship of the opposite or same sex, who are not married or in a civil partnership together.
The Act covers relationships that have broken up since January 1st, 2011. It is also restricted to partners who are “financially dependent” on the other cohabitant and does not change the law in relation to children.
The Act specifies that partners’ previous spouses will not be affected by the new legislation.
It also provides couples with the ability to draw up a cohabitants agreement to “opt out” of some, or all, of the redress scheme.
Margaret Dromey, chief executive of Treoir, said the new legislation was a major step forward for unmarried couple’s rights. But she said she had concerns on how judges would interpret the financial dependence clause and hoped they would be fair on this point.
Muriel Walls, a lawyer who is a board member of the Family Support Agency, which is helping to fund Treoir’s information campaign, said she is working on several cases under the new Act.
“Many unmarried couples woke up on January 1st thinking there was a legal free zone regarding claims. But they are now in relationships where claims can be made against them,” she said.
The redress scheme created by the Act is intended to provide a safety net for cohabitants, who have been in committed relationships. It enables former partners to apply to the courts for compensatory maintenance, pension adjustment, property adjustment orders or provision from the estate of a deceased cohabitant.
There is no automatic right to get such orders and, when considering a claim, the court must first consider maintenance. If it thinks the maintenance order is not enough, it will consider making a pension adjustment order. If these two are not considered enough redress, only then will the court consider making a property adjustment order.
The Irish Farmers Association lobbied against the legislation, in part over fears it could lead to the division of family farms.
The 2006 census showed 121,763 cohabiting couples, which was 14 per cent of all couples in the State.