Half of Brits believe that common law marriage exists

The first findings from this year's British Social Attitudes Survey, carried out by The National Centre for Social Research, reveal that 46% of the public are under the impression that cohabiting couples form a common law marriage. The figure has remained largely unchanged over the last fourteen years (47% in 2005) despite a significant increase in the number of cohabiting couples. In contrast, only 41% of respondents rightly said that cohabiting couples are not in a common law marriage.