GW4 FRS Network and Exeter Law School Baroness Butler-Sloss Annual Family Law Lecture (online)

You can book a place via the Eventbrite link here: 

https://bit.ly/3jseI5A

Cohabitation reform has stalled in England and Wales. This is despite the fact cohabitants are the fastest growing family form and that they often face relationship-generated disadvantage upon separation and death. This presentation asks why that is the case and explores the existing barriers to securing increased legal protections. It will then reflect on whether recent developments in this field such as the Women and Equalities Committee’s Inquiry and strategic human rights litigation add new dimensions to this debate. If we view this issue differently and redirect the campaign, can we ultimately unlock cohabitation reform?

Speaker Bio

Dr Andy Hayward is an Associate Professor in Family Law at Durham Law School and an Academic Fellow of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. His research explores from both domestic and comparative law perspectives the legal regulation of adult relationships, in particular, marriage, civil partnership and cohabitation. In 2021, he was appointed Specialist Adviser to the Women and Equalities Committee of the UK Parliament for their inquiry, The Rights of Cohabiting Partners. Recent publications include The Future of Registered Partnerships – Family Recognition beyond Marriage? (Intersentia, 2017) (with Prof Jens Scherpe), ‘Equal Civil Partnerships, Discrimination and the Indulgence of Time’ (2019) 82(5) Modern Law Review 922, ‘The Steinfeld Effect: Equal Civil Partnerships and the Construction of the Cohabitant’ [2019] 31(4) Child and Family Law Quarterly 283, The Legal Status of De Facto Relationships (Intersentia, 2023, forthcoming) (with Prof Jens Scherpe) and the Research Handbook on Family Property and the Law (Edward Elgar, 2023, forthcoming) (with Prof Margaret Briggs).