No, the UK Is Not Preparing a Law to Force Alimony for Ex-Girlfriends

There is no bill in the UK that forces anyone to pay alimony to an ex-partner just for having lived together. What does exist is an old debate about cohabitation rights, with Scotland being the only British territory where a cohabitant can claim money after a breakup.

## The rule attributed to the UK is not in pogre

A text circulating on social media claims that the UK is preparing a law to force alimony payments to unmarried ex-partners without children. According to that version, it would be enough to claim that there was cohabitation and that the claimant has a lower income. No such rule exists. There is no bill in the British Parliament with that content, and the **Westminster** government has not registered an equivalent draft.

The closest thing is the Cohabitation Rights Bill, a private member's bill by **Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames** presented in the House of Lords in **2014** and reintroduced several times since. It has never passed.

## Without marriage, there is no pension sharing in England and Wales

In **England and Wales**, there is no common-law marriage. Whether you live together for twenty years or two, the law does not grant you automatic financial rights over your partner upon separation. Pension sharing is only possible within a divorce or the dissolution of a registered civil partnership. The basis is the **Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999**, in force since **December 2000**.

Outside that channel, a court cannot order someone to share their pension with a former partner with no link other than cohabitation. Claims can be made through other routes, such as a contract between the parties or a business partnership, but not a pension by default.

## Scotland has its own limited route

The UK exception is in **Scotland**. The **Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006** allows a cohabitant to claim financial compensation upon separation, even without children in common. It is not ongoing alimony: it is a one-off sum, and the deadline to claim it expires one year after the breakup. It is the only British territory with such a mechanism.

This leads to some court rulings that, taken out of context, feed the idea that there is a general right to collect from an ex. The distance between those judgments and a monthly lifetime pension is enormous.

## The myth behind the hoax

All this rests on an old belief: that after living together for a while, the law equates you to a spouse. It does not happen anywhere in the **UK**. Nor is there a system that compares the two incomes and triggers an automatic payment to the lower earner.

Any real change would require a bill, readings in both houses and royal assent, and none of that is underway. If someone claims it has already been passed, let them name the law. When they don't, the answer is clear.

This is general information. For a specific case, the sensible thing is to consult a lawyer.