The early 1970s were a boom time for marriage.

In 1972, 426,241 people married in England and Wales – the largest recorded total for a single year and more than twice as many as exactly a century before.

However, something of a paradigm shift was just around the corner. In fact, as Britons turned their calendars over to the following year, it seems that many also changed their attitudes to marriage.

The catalyst was arguably the passing of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1973/18), which reformed the way that people could divorce.

At a stroke, a near century-long pattern of increase in the number of individuals becoming man and wife (with the exception of the war years, of course) was undone.

New data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has confirmed that the long downward dip in marriage numbers shows no sign of abating (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/bulletins/marriagesinenglandandwalesprovisional/2023).

It shows that in 2023, there were 231,949 marriages and civil partnerships in England and Wales in 2023 – a drop of 8.6% on the year before (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/bulletins/populationestimatesbymaritalstatusandlivingarrangements/2024).

The reduction might have been even more pronounced if it wasn’t for the fact that the ONS now combines marriage and civil partnership figures.

If we really dig into the data, we find that two years ago there was a fall in the number of those who chose to marry or set up civil partnerships across every single age group but one – men and women over 65.

The age group with the largest drop was 30-34, the very same group which accounts for the average age at which those who tied the knot actually do so.

Although the numbers are startling, no-one who has been paying attention to these trends should really be surprised.

Apart from occasional increases, marriage numbers have remained in decline since 1972, to the point at which, last month, the ONS revealed that spouses now make up less than half of the adult population couples in this country (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/bulletins/populationestimatesbymaritalstatusandlivingarrangements/2024) .

I should point out that marriage does still remain popular for many people, representing what has been described as a ‘gold standard’ to which many couples aspire.

Even so, cohabitation has become more commonplace. Having said that, there are truly interesting patterns which emerge when analyse those who are establishing unmarried relationships and when they do so.

Overall, there were just over 6.5 million cohabitees in England and Wales last year – up almost 17 per cent on a decade before.

However, whilst the number of those doing so having not previously been married or in a civil partnership rose by 30 per cent in that time, those living together after a more formal relationship fell by one-quarter.

Look a little closer and we find that there was a 131 per cent increase in those aged over 50 who cohabited having never married and a 6 per cent drop in those of a similar age who had been either divorced or widowed.

It is surely no secret now that cohabitees do not enjoy the same rights as spouses to make a claim on the assets of their exes when they split up.

That much was identified nearly 20 years ago by the Law Commission which proposed that situation be rectified (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7ca0e7ed915d12ab4bc10b/7182.pdf).

Fifteen years later, the House of Commons’ Women and Equalities Committee issued its own call for change, noting that the absence of legal rights was somewhat compounded by the persistent myth of the ‘common law spouse’ – a misplaced belief that cohabitees had an automatic right to a share of their partners’ property (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmwomeq/92/report.html).

One impact of a lack of cohabitee rights can be observed from my caseload, which highlights a rise in the number of cohabitees resorting to property law – the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/47/contents) – in an effort to claim against their ex.

In particular, I have been struck by another key difference between spouses and their unmarried counterparts.

Married couples have, in recent years, become increasingly aware of the merits of pre- and post-nuptial agreements for providing a structure to discussions about the division of assets which is then progressed via mediation or arbitration.

Cohabitees, on the other hand, have not adopted cohabitation agreements to the same degree and, sadly, show a greater desire to litigate, with all the attendant delay, costs, stress and uncertainty which that brings.

It is a fact that many marriages and cohabitations end in what might be described as a premature fashion.

Although such information is not recorded for unmarried couples, we do know that 42 per cent of married couples have divorced before being able to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary.

In my opinion, the essential requirement which is common to both is a simplification of the process, regardless of whether individuals are married or not.

Doing so at least raises the potential for former spouses or cohabitees to go their separate ways as quickly, cheaply and reasonably as possible. That is especially important for those households with children.

Resolving the legal status of nuptial agreements – as the Law Commission recommended in a scoping report on financial remedy on divorce last December (https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/financial-remedies-on-divorce/) – has already been described as an important step on the road to giving cohabitees a measure of their own rights too.

The value of the data generated by the ONS is both in reminding us that marriage remains an objective for many couples and in highlighting that an increasing number of people want something different.

Both should be fully provided for and, until they are, they should take advice before setting up home together.