Cohabitation in America

Two recent articles have focused on the legal consequences of cohabitation. While the Church continues to stress the importance of marriage and family, societal trends in America continue to diverge from this view. One article at lawyers.com notes:

America has experienced a sharp increase in the rate of cohabitation. According to U.S. census data unmarried couples living together increased 72 percent between 1990 and 2000. Moreover, according to the lawyers.com survey results, younger adults are more than twice as likely as their older counterparts to have lived with a romantic partner without a marriage license. Many Americans between thirty-five and forty-four years old (56%) have cohabitated. Less than one-in-four (23%) people over fifty-five have done so.

Aside from the moral, social, or religious implications of widespread cohabitation, there are significant legal implications as well. In that same article, Cleveland-based lawyer Alan Kopit notes that cohabitating couples frequently lack the same legal protections enjoyed by married couples. Kopit asserts that documents such as cohabitating agreements and powers of attorney are especially important for these couples. However, despite the benefits, cohabitating couples seem reluctant to enter into any sort of legal agreement, as Kopit notes that these legal tools are "widely underutilized."

In a similar vein, a state judge in North Carolina ruled that a 201-year-old law prohibiting cohabitation was unconstitutional. The law, which was rarely enforced, was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU acted on behalf of Deborah Hobbs, who said she had to leave her job because she refused to marry her live-in boyfriend of three years. In his ruling, State Superior Court Judge Benjamin Alford cited the 2003 Supreme Court case of Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down the state's anti-sodomy statute. Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina, released a statement saying that "the idea that the government would criminalize people's choice to live together out of wedlock in this day and age defies logic and common sense."

I'm not sure that I would support legislation criminalizing all acts I consider "wrong." Everyone has his or her own agency to make decisions for his- or herself, and I don't think all "wrong" or "immoral" acts should carry legal punishments. But I think that the statistics cited in the lawyers.com article and the statement made by Ms. Rudinger are indicative of how little American society values the institution of marriage. Is it any wonder, then, why Church leaders continue to emphasize marriage and the family?