Louisiana Law Review Volume 64 | Number 3 Spring 2004 Marry Me, Bill: Should Cohabitation Be the (Legal) Default Option? Margaret F. Brinig Steven L. Nock Repository Citation Margaret F. Brinig and Steven L. Nock, Marry Me, Bill: Should Cohabitation Be the (Legal) Default Option?, 64 La. L. Rev. (2004) Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol64/iss3/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Louisiana Law Review by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Marry Me, Bill: Should Cohabitation Be the (Legal) Default Option? MargaretF. Brinig* Steven L. Nock** Bill, I love you so, I always will, I look at you and see the passion eyes of May. Oh, but am I ever gonna see my wedding day? Oh, I was on your side, Bill, when you were losin'. I'd never scheme or lie Bill, there's been no foolin'. But kisses and love won't carry me 'til you marry me, Bill... "Wedding Bell Blues," by Laura Nyro Recorded by The 5h Dimension INTRODUCTION Are cohabitation and marriage similar enough to warrant similar legal treatment? Earlier public reports on cohabitation have focused on the question of whether cohabitation before marriage increases or decreases the divorce rate.' But increasingly cohabitation is being proposed not as a testing ground for marriage, but as a functional substitute for it. The trend in family law and scholarship in Europe and Canada is to treat married and cohabiting couples similarly, or even identically.2 Copyright 2004, by LouISIANA LAW REvIEW.