British co-habiting couples may be given more financial rights after a break-up or death under proposals published today.
The British government has ordered a review of the laws which govern their rights in areas such as property, child benefits and inheritance.
The country's Law Commission, the statutory law reform body, will outline possible changes before asking the public for its views. The plans would not however give Britain's two million cohabiting partners the same rights enjoyed by married couples who divorce.
The Commission wants to simplify the law and try to make it fairer for cohabitees.
The proposed new measures would not apply to all couples. Government-backed research has found most people wrongly believe that living together automatically gives them the same rights as marriage.
Ministers are keen to dispel the myth that "common law marriage" is a recognised legal status.
Unmarried couples have less legal protection than people who are married. For example, cohabitees have no automatic right to benefit from a partner's private pension or to inherit their property.
The Law Commission may propose that unmarried men could be forced to pay maintenance if they split from their partners, according to a newspaper report.
The reform may give cohabitees a legal claim on the other's property once they have lived together for a set period, the report said. The Commission declined to comment before the publication of its consultation.