There is no legal barrier to prevent a man and a woman cohabiting together without entering into formal marriage in the form of "live-in-relationship". The traditional society of India, however, does not approve such living arrangements. The concept of live-in-relationship is not a new concept in India, although the name "Live-in-relationship" is heard openly in recent times. This is nowadays being taken as an alternative to marriage especially in the metropolitan cities. Currently, the law is unclear about the status of such a relationship, though a few rights have been granted to prevent gross misuse of the relationship by the partners. Legalizing live in the relationship means that a totally new set of laws require to govern the relationship including protection in case of desertion, cheating, maintenance, inheritance, etc. Even courts are also trying to take the live-in-relation under the presumption of marriage. It is not allowed in any judgment independently as live-in-relationship. The harm caused to a "legally wedded wife" and her children and promotion of bigamy is two main arguments opposed to wholly legalize the live-in-relationships in India.

Autorentext

Forscherin und Fakultätsmitglied im Bereich Recht und Governance. Sie unterrichtet Familienrecht, Wirtschaftsrecht und IPR. Ihr Forschungsgebiet ist das Privatrecht, insbesondere im Bereich Frauen und Kinder. Als Shastri Indo-Canadian Doctoral Research Fellow arbeitete sie 2017 als Visiting Doctoral Research Fellow an der Osgoode Hall Law School, York University.