NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Cohabitation

Cohabitation is an emotionally- and physically-intimate relationship which includes a common living place and which exists without legal or religious sanction. An intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship. ...

Couples commonly choose to live together for one or more reasons: wanting to test compatibility or establish financial security before marrying, a desire to live as married when same-sex, interracial, or interreligious marriages are not legal or permitted, living with someone before marriage as a way to avoid divorce, a way for polygamists to avoid anti-polygamy laws, a way to avoid the higher income taxes paid by some two-income married couples (in the United States), negative effects on pension payments (among older people), and seeing little difference between the commitment to live together and the commitment to marriage. One of four newly wedded same-sex couples in a public wedding at Taiwan Pride 2006. ... Othello and Desdemona from William Shakespeares Othello, a play often depicted as concerning a biracial couple. ... Interreligious marriage, traditionally (especially in the Catholic Church) called mixed marriage, is marriage (either religious or civil) between partners professing different religions. ... Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the ending of a marriage before the death of either spouse. ... Polygamy has been a feature of human culture since earliest history. ...

Some couples prefer cohabitation because it does not legally commit them for an extended period, and because it is easier to establish and dissolve without the pricey legal costs often associated with a divorce. In some states cohabitations can be viewed legally as common-law marriages, either after the duration of a specified period, or the birth of the couple's child, or if the couple consider and behave accordingly as husband and wife. (This helps provide the surviving partner a legal basis for inheriting the deceased's belongings in the event of the death of their cohabiting partner.) Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the ending of a marriage before the death of either spouse. ... Common-law marriage (or common law marriage), sometimes called informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute is, historically, a form of interpersonal status in which a man and a woman are not legally married. ...

Today, cohabitation is a common pattern among younger people in the Western world, especially those who desire marriage but whose financial situation temporarily precludes it, or who wish to prepare for what married life will be like before actually getting married. More and more couples choose to have long-term relationships without marriage, and cohabitate as a permanent arrangement. Matrimony redirects here. ...

Opposition

Traditionally^{[dubious – discuss]} in the Western world, a man and a woman who lived together without being married were socially shunned and persecuted and potentially prosecuted by law. In some jurisdictions, cohabitation was illegal until quite recently. Other jurisdictions have created a Common-law marriage status when two people of the opposite sex live together for a prescribed period of time. Occident redirects here. ... Common-law marriage (or common law marriage), sometimes called informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute is, historically, a form of interpersonal status in which a man and a woman are not legally married. ...

Opposition to cohabitation comes mainly from conservative religious and family ethics groups. Religious arguments aside, opponents to cohabitation usually argue that living together (as opposed to marriage) is unstable and hence harmful for both partners, as well as for the children (if there are such). According to one argument, the total and unconditional commitment of marriage strengthens a couple's bond and makes the partners feel more secure, more relaxed, and happier than those that have chosen to 'test the waters'.^[1] Opponents of cohabitation commonly cite statistics that indicate that couples who have lived together before marriage are more likely to divorce, and that unhappiness, ill health, poverty, and domestic violence are more common in unmarried couples than in married ones.^[2] Cohabitation advocates, in turn, cite research that either disproves these claims or indicates that the statistical differences are due to other factors than the fact of cohabitation itself.^[3]

Cohabitation worldwide

United States

Statistics

In some parts of the United States, there is no legal registration or definition of cohabitation, so demographers have developed various methods of identifying cohabitation and measuring its prevalence. Most important of these is the Census Bureau, which currently describes an "unmarried partner" as "A person age 15 years and over, who is not related to the householder, who shares living quarters, and who has a close personal relationship with the householder."^[4] Before 1995, the Bureau euphemistically identified any "unrelated" opposite-sex couple living with no other adults as POSSLQs, or Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters.^[5], and they still report these numbers to show historical trends. However, such measures should be taken loosely, as researchers report that cohabitation often does not have clear start and end dates, as people move in and out of each other's homes and sometimes do not agree on the definition of their living arrangement at a particular moment in time.^[6] POSSLQ is abbreviation (or acronym) for Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters, a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States Census Bureau as part of an effort to more accurately gauge the prevalence of cohabitation in American households. ...

As of 2001, in the United States 8.2% of couples were cohabiting, and the regions where cohabitation were found to be more common is in the New England and West Coast regions.^[7] This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... Regional definitions vary from source to source. ...

In 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau reported 4.85 million cohabiting couples, up more than 1,000 percent from 1960, when there were 439,000 such couples. A 2000 study found that more than half of newlyweds lived together, at least briefly, before walking down the aisle. The United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census) is a part of the United States Department of Commerce. ...

The cohabiting population is inclusive of all ages, but the average cohabiting age group is between 25-34^[8].

Legal status

Some places, including the state of California, have laws that recognize cohabiting couples as "domestic partners". In California, such couples are defined as people who "have chosen to share one another's lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring," including having a "common residence."^[9] This recognition led to the creation of a "Domestic Partners Registry", which is available to same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples in which at least one of the partners is age 62 or older, granting them limited legal recognition and some rights similar to those of married couples. Domestic partner or domestic partnership identifies the personal relationship between individuals who are living together and sharing a common domestic life together but are not joined in any type of legal partnership, marriage or civil union. ...

Decades ago, it was illegal in every state for adult lovers to live together without being married. Today, on the other hand, just six (6) states (North Carolina, Mississippi, Virginia, Florida, North Dakota and Michigan) still criminalize cohabitation by opposite-sex couples, although anti-cohabitation laws are generally not enforced. ^[10] Many legal scholars believe that in light of in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) such laws making cohabitation illegal are unconstitutional (North Carolina Superior Court judge Benjamin Alford has struck down the North Carolina law on that basis).^[11] Holding A Texas law prohibiting homosexual sodomy violated the privacy and liberty of adults, under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, to engage in private intimate conduct. ... // The United States Reports, the official reporter of the Supreme Court of the United States Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a neutral form which will...

Europe

A current understanding of Western Europe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Criminal Code. ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent...

Middle East

According to Shia Islam marriage doesn't need any witness or official statement or presence in a definite place ^[16] and its sufficient that man and woman intend to marry with each other and say specific words to each other which led to a religious contract between them^[17]^[18] and a couple can live with each other as a family without official contract. Of course there are some criteria which woman should observe e.g. she should be single. ^[19]^[20] Western Europe is distinguished from Central Europe and Eastern Europe by differences of history and culture rather than by geography. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... This is a sub-article to Islamic jurisprudence and Marriage. ...

Asia

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 was brought into force by the Indian government from October 26, 2006. ...

Pacific

Australian Bureau of Statistics logo The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the Australian government agency that collects and publishes statistical information about Australia. ...

North America - other

See also

For other uses, see Family (disambiguation). ... Family Law was a television drama starring Kathleen Quinlan as a divorced lawyer who attempted to start her own law firm after her lawyer husband took all their old clients. ... For other uses, see Child (disambiguation). ... Illegitimacy is the status that was once commonly ascribed to individuals born to parents who were not married. ... In the contexts of sociology and of popular culture, the concept of interpersonal relationships involves social associations, connections, or affiliations between two or more people. ... An intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship. ... Common-law marriage (or common law marriage), sometimes called informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute is, historically, a form of interpersonal status in which a man and a woman are not legally married. ... A Pilegesh is a concubine. ... Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the ending of a marriage before the death of either spouse. ... International recognition Civil unions and Domestic partnerships Recognized in some regions Unregistered co-habitation Recognition debated See also Same-sex marriage Civil union Registered partnership Domestic partnership Timeline of same-sex marriage Listings by country This box: A domestic partnership is a legal or personal relationship between individuals who live... Matrimony redirects here. ... POSSLQ is abbreviation (or acronym) for Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters, a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States Census Bureau as part of an effort to more accurately gauge the prevalence of cohabitation in American households. ... The marriage gap describes observed disparities between those who are married and those who are single. ... Living Apart Together (abbreviation: LAT) is a term for couples who, whilst committed to each other, decide to have separate homes rather than one shared residence. ...

References

^ Morse, Jennifer Roback. Why Not Take Her for a Test Drive?. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
^ Are there reasons why I shouldn't move in with my boyfriend?. Retrieved on 2007-04-17.
^ The Experts Speak.. Retrieved on 2007-06-27. On the website of the Alternatives to marriage project.
^ See "Household Type and Relationship".
^ See "Current Population Survey (CPS) - Definitions and Explanations"
^ Manning, Wendy D. and Pamela J. Smock. 2005. "Measuring and Modeling Cohabitation: New Perspectives from Qualitative Data." Journal of Marriage and Family 67(4):989-1002.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Anne-Marie Ambert: Cohabitation and Marriage: How Are They Related?. The Vanier Institute of the Family, Fall 2005)
^ Cohabitation is replacing dating USA Today 7/17/2005
^ See California Family Code Section 297.
^ Gay News From 365Gay.com
^ See "Judge strikes down law banning cohabitation" and "N.C. law banning cohabitation struck down".
^ The Finnish population structure of 2005 at Statistics Finland (Finnish/Swedish)
^ Elected MPs and candidates by family type in 2003 at Statistics Finland (English)
^ See commentary on verses ^{[Qur'an 23:1]}: Vol. 3, notes 7-1, p. 241; 2000, Islamic Publications
^ Tafsir ibn Kathir 4:24
^ Witnesses for Marriage
^ The method of pronouncing the marriage formula
^ Marriage formula
^ http://www.sistani.org/local.php?modules=nav&nid=2&bid=59&pid=3080
^ Women with whom matrimony is Haraam
^ :: GMA News.TV ::

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