Unity in diversity
South Asian Heritage Month 2026 is an opportunity not only to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of South Asian communities in Britain, but also to reflect on legal issues that continue to affect many individuals and families with links to the Indian subcontinent. One such issue is the position of couples who enter into non-legally binding religious marriages and the consequences they face when relationships break down.
It is also an opportunity to consider whether legal reform adequately reflects the lived experiences of Britain’s diverse communities. As policymakers consider weddings law and cohabitation reform, there is value in ensuring that legal principle is informed by an understanding of how different communities experience family life and relationship commitment in practice.
Against that backdrop, the Government’s consultations on weddings law and cohabitation reform offer a timely moment to consider how these two interconnected areas of family law should develop. One question is whether a witnessed and documented non-legally binding ceremony, particularly a religious marriage, should become a qualifying factor under any future cohabitation regime in England and Wales.
This would not mean treating such ceremonies as legally valid marriages. Nor would it transform cohabitation law into divorce law by another route. Rather, it would acknowledge that where parties have publicly undertaken a serious, witnessed and documented ceremony signifying long-term commitment, the law should regard that act as strong evidence of commitment, interdependence and foreseeable reliance.
English family law distinguishes between relationships that satisfy the legal requirements of marriage and those that do not. That distinction undoubtedly promotes legal certainty. However, the boundary is not always as clear as it may first appear.
The uncertainty is evident from the substantial body of case law that developed around what were traditionally known as the “non-marriage” cases. Courts have repeatedly been asked to determine whether a ceremony created a valid marriage, a void marriage, or a non-qualifying ceremony with no matrimonial consequences at all. The volume of litigation in this area demonstrates that the distinction between marriage and non-marriage is not always straightforward in practice.
For practitioners, the consequences are familiar. Where a ceremony is found not to create a legally recognised marriage, the parties are denied access to the financial remedies available on divorce and are often left to rely on property, trust and contract principles that were never designed to address the realities of intimate family relationships.
Although this issue is not confined to any one faith or community, it has particular significance for many individuals with links to South Asia. Across the Indian subcontinent, religious ceremonies frequently mark the beginning of family life. Whether Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Christian or Buddhist, many couples view their religious ceremony as a profound commitment witnessed by family, community and, for many believers, by God.
For some couples, the discovery that their relationship has no legal status under English law comes only when the relationship ends. Despite years of shared lives, financial interdependence and, in many cases, children, they find themselves treated in law as cohabitants with very limited remedies.
An opportunity for reform
The current reform agenda provides an opportunity to do so. The Law Commission’s 2022 recommendations on weddings law proposed a more flexible framework for weddings, while the Government is separately consulting on strengthening the legal position of cohabitants. These projects should not be viewed in isolation.
Even if weddings law is modernised, there will continue to be situations in which couples participate in serious and meaningful ceremonies that do not create legally recognised marriages. Some may intentionally choose a religious-only ceremony; others may mistakenly believe they have complied with legal formalities. For that reason, weddings law reform alone cannot remove the need for cohabitation reform.
The Law Commission’s earlier work on cohabitation focused on indicators such as duration of cohabitation and the existence of children. Both are understandable measures of commitment. However, they are not the only indicators.
‘Another’ proposed qualifying factor?
A witnessed and documented religious ceremony can be an equally compelling marker of commitment. Such ceremonies are intentional, public and usually recorded. They often involve significant emotional and financial investment and represent the point at which the couple, their families and wider community understand family life to begin.
Indeed, from an evidential perspective, a documented ceremony may provide greater certainty than disputes about when cohabitation commenced. If parenthood and duration can demonstrate commitment, there is a strong argument that a serious, witnessed and documented religious ceremony should also be recognised.
Recognising such ceremonies as a qualifying factor would not diminish marriage or create a parallel system of marriage. Rather, it would provide a gateway into a limited statutory scheme aimed at addressing economic disadvantage, retained benefit and immediate financial need following relationship breakdown. Marriage would continue to carry a distinct legal status and significantly broader legal consequences.
A reformed cohabitation regime should therefore permit eligibility where parties have a child together, have cohabited for a minimum statutory period, or have undergone a witnessed and documented non-legally binding ceremony signifying commitment. Such an approach would not undermine marriage; rather, it would recognise an evidentially significant act of commitment when determining eligibility for limited financial relief.
Given our Commonwealth history and the religious diversity reflected both within modern Britain and the case law concerning non-legally binding marriages, the issue has continuing legal relevance. Moreover, as no jurisdiction currently recognises a non-legally binding marriage as an independent qualifying factor within a cohabitation scheme, England and Wales has an opportunity to take a principled and innovative step forward. Such reform would contribute to a more coherent and just framework for addressing the economic consequences of relationship breakdown while preserving the distinction between marriage and cohabitation.
Nazia Rashid, Partner, Thomas Mansfield Family Law
Nazia is the co-chair of Resolution’s EDI committee
