Description: In Unmarried Couples, Law, and Public Policy, Cynthia Grant Bowman explores legal recognition of opposite-sex cohabiting couples in the United States. Unmarried cohabitation has increased substantially in the U.S. over the last few decades, but the law has not responded to the legal issues. The author argues that the benefits applied to formal marriage should be extended to cohabitants who have lived together beyond two years or who have a child. In order to avoid consequences, a couple would need to opt out of them by contract.
