16 October 2025
Nick Gova features in legal press on cohabitation reform
Head of Family Nick Gova is featured in the legal press commenting on recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which highlight the urgent need for cohabitation law reform, as marriage rates decline and the proportion of cohabiting couples continues to grow.
Over the last decade, the share of the population in a marriage or civil partnership dropped from 51.5% to 49.5%, while the number of cohabiting individuals increased by one million, making it the fastest-growing family type.
Family lawyers argue these statistics confirm that existing legislation is outdated. Nick strongly asserts that “it’s time family law caught up with modern love and relationships.” He argues that since marriage is no longer the majority model, the law should stop treating it as the “gold standard.”
Nick emphasises a “growing appetite for legal recognition outside traditional marriage,” adding weight to the “now deafening calls” for the law to evolve and reflect diverse, changing relationship choices in modern society.
Read Nick’s comments:
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