Nonmarital relationships: Introduction

• Published date: 01 January 2023
• Author: Albertina Antognini,Susan Frelich Appleton,Naomi Cahn,Kaiponanea T. Matsumura,Amanda Miller
• Date: 01 January 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12683

SPECIAL FEATURE

Nonmarital relationships: Introduction

Albertina Antognini

1

| Susan Frelich Appleton

2

| Naomi Cahn

3

|

Kaiponanea T. Matsumura

4

| Amanda Miller

5

1

University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, Tucson, Arizona, USA

2

Washington University in St. Louis, Seattle, Washington, USA

3

University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

4

Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

5

Department of Sociology, University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Correspondence

Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia School of Law, 580 Massie Rd, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22903, USA.

Email: ncahn@law.virginia.edu

In the United States today, adults live in a variety of nonmarital relationships and situations, ranging from committed

partners who cohabit, to people who cohabit with differing levels of commitment,

1

to committed partners who live

apart.

2

An increasing number are single or in families of choice with non-intimate partners, while some intimate part-

ners are in relationships with multiple people at the same time.

3

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of these

relationship forms differently.

4

The coming years will reveal the extent to which these impacts will alter the social

and legal landscape around nonmarital relationships.

These relationships have produced a range of responses in both existing law and law reform efforts. Meanwhile,

scholars from variousdisciplines are studying nonmarital relationships, including polyamorous arrangements and other

communities of choice. The Uniform Law Commission has developed a new proposal for uniformity in this area that

addresses propertyrights and equitable claims,but not the many other legal rightsand obligations that mightaccrue.

5

The Third Roundtable on Nonmarriage and the Law, held at Washington University School of Law in October of

2021, brought together—virtually—scholars who are researching nonmarriage in law, sociology, economics, and other

related fields. Papers addressed topics including the following:

•Economic rights of nonmarital partners, whether at separation or death;

•Implications of legal regulation across different demographic categories, including race, gender, class, and sexual

orientation;

•The design of regulatory responses to families-of-choice;

•The relationship between marriage and nonmarital statuses;

•Constitutional issues relating to nonmarriage;

•Nonmarriage, parenthood, childbearing, and childrearing;

•The demography and sociology of nonmarital relationships, including the impact of the pandemic;

DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12683

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use,

distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

© 2022 The Authors. Family Court Review published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Association of Family and Conciliation

Courts.

Family Court Rev. 2023;61:69–72. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fcre 69