Celebrity divorce lawyer, Vanessa Lloyd- Platt, is well known for securing a good financial settlement for her clients when their marriages break down.

But if her clients had only lived with their former partner, there's much less that she can do to secure their's or their children's financial future, regardless if the couple were separated by death or their relationship broke down. Vanessa believes this is grossly unfair, especially for any children from the relationship.

Most co-habiting couples think they have the rights of a Common Law Spouse. Legally no such thing exists and co-habitees legally have no rights to maintenance or a share of property, or exemption from inheritance tax should their partner die.

Vanessa believes the law should be changed to give co-habitees and their children similar rights to those enjoyed by married people. She argues that this would also be the most effective way to address the UK's appalling record on child poverty and would also make men less reluctant to marry their partners and face their responsibilities as fathers and partners.

Many argue that marriage as an institution would be undermined, but evidence from other countries has shown it has increased marriage rates, as there's nothing to be lost by marriage compared to cohabitation, as there is now.

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