Editing Cohabitation (section)

====United States====
[[File:Cohabitation Approval General Social Survey 1994-2012 v2.png|thumb|right|Public approval in the United States for cohabiting couples has risen since 1994.<ref name="roper2014">{{cite web|quote=just 20 percent in the 2012 General Social Survey disagreed with the assertion that it was all right for a couple to live together |url=http://today.uconn.edu/blog/2014/10/love-marriage-and-the-vatican/|title=Love, Marriage, and the Vatican |author1=Paul Herrnson |author2=Kathleen Weldon |publisher=Center for Public Opinion Research|date=6 October 2014}}</ref>
{{legend|#004586|Agree}}
{{legend|#ffd320|Neither agree nor disagree}}
{{legend|#ff420e|Disagree}}]]

[[Cohabitation in the United States]] became common in the late 20th century. {{As of|2005}}, 4.85&nbsp;million unmarried couples were living together, and {{as of|2002|lc=y}}, about half of all women aged 15 to 44 had lived unmarried with a partner. In 2007, it is estimated that 6.4 million households were maintained by two opposite sex persons who said they were unmarried.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cherlin|first=Andrew|title=Public and Private Families|year=2010|publisher=McGraw Hill|location=New York|isbn=978-0-07-340435-6|page=227}}</ref> In 2012, the General Social Survey found that public disapproval of cohabitation had dropped to 20% of the population.<ref name="roper2014"/>

Researchers at the National Center for Family and Marriage Research estimated in 2011 that 66% of first marriages are entered after a period of cohabitation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://paa2013.princeton.edu/papers/132048|title=Two Decades of Stability and Change in Age at First Union Formation|publisher=Population Association of America|date=12 April 2013}}</ref> According to the 2009 American Community Survey conducted by the Census Bureau, the proportion of 30- to 44-year-olds living together has almost doubled since 1999, from 4% to 7%. Fifty-eight percent of women aged 19 to 44 had ever cohabited in data collected in 2006–08, while in 1987 only 33% had. Cohabitation is more prevalent among those with less education. "Among women ages 19 to 44, 73% of those without a high school education have ever cohabited, compared with about half of women with some college (52%) or a college degree (47%)," note the Pew study's authors, Richard Fry and D'Vera Cohn.<ref>Luscombe, B. (June 2011). [https://healthland.time.com/2011/06/27/the-strange-economics-of-living-together/ "More Americans Are Cohabiting, But the Benefits of Living Together Apply Mainly to the Wealthier, More Educated"]. Retrieved 21 March 2012</ref>

Before the mid-20th century, laws against cohabitation, fornication, adultery and other such behaviors were common in the US (especially in Southern and Northeastern states), but these laws have been gradually abolished or struck down by courts as unconstitutional.<ref>{{cite news |title=N.C. Cohabitation Law Struck Down |work=CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nc-cohabitation-law-struck-down/ |access-date=28 June 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002081733/http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-2007258.html |archive-date=2 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Virginia strikes down state fornication law |url=http://articles.cnn.com/2005-01-25/justice/grossman.oldlaws_1_criminal-ban-fornication-virginia-court?_s=PM:LAW |work=CNN |date=25 January 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121210230745/http://articles.cnn.com/2005-01-25/justice/grossman.oldlaws_1_criminal-ban-fornication-virginia-court?_s=PM%3ALAW}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/judge-rules-state-adultery-law-unconstitutional/article_7aab8dd6-5cf4-5f08-b1cf-e5d9faa9857b.html|title=Judge rules state adultery law unconstitutional|agency=Associated Press |work=Bismarck Tribune |date=28 February 2005 |access-date=22 August 2015 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526133611/http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/judge-rules-state-adultery-law-unconstitutional/article_7aab8dd6-5cf4-5f08-b1cf-e5d9faa9857b.html |archive-date=2016-05-26}}</ref>
{{blockquote
  | Cohabitation was almost impossible in the United States prior to the 1960s. Laws prevented unmarried couples from registering in hotels and it was very difficult for an unmarried couple to obtain a home mortgage. From 1960 to 1998, cohabitation moved from disreputable and difficult to normal and convenient.
  |source = {{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/fmc/timeline/ddisruption.htm |title = The First Measured Century: Social disruptions |publisher = [[PBS]]}}
}}

As of December 2023, cohabitation of unmarried couples remains illegal in two states ([[Mississippi]] and [[North Carolina]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/after-148-years-florida-makes-it-legal-to-shack-up/|title=After 148 years, Florida makes it legal to shack up|website=[[CBS News]]|date=6 April 2016}}</ref> while as of 2023 [[fornication]] remains illegal in two states ([[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=2022 Georgia Code :: Title 16 - Crimes and Offenses :: Chapter 6 - Sexual Offenses :: § 16-6-18. Fornication |url=https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2022/title-16/chapter-6/section-16-6-18/ |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=Justia Law |language=en}}</ref> and [[South Carolina]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Code of Laws - Title 16 - Chapter 15 - Offenses Against Morality And Decency |url=https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t16c015.php |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=www.scstatehouse.gov}}</ref>). These laws are almost never enforced and are now believed to be unconstitutional since the legal decision ''[[Lawrence v. Texas]]'' in 2003.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sullivan-county.com/bush/7_states.htm |author=Robin Fields |title=Virginia and Six Other States Still Classify Cohabitation as Illegal |website=sullivan-county.com |date=20 August 2001 |access-date=10 November 2012}}</ref> However, these laws may have indirect effects. For example, one consequence may be that one may not claim their partner as a dependent (for a tax exemption), whereas in the other states it may be possible to do so after meeting four criteria: residency, income, support and status.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Can-I-Claim-a-Boyfriend-Girlfriend-As-a-Dependent-on-Income-Taxes--/INF14242.html|title=Can I Claim a Boyfriend/Girlfriend As a Dependent on Income Taxes? |publisher=INTUIT TurboTax |access-date=22 August 2015}}</ref>

In 2006, in North Carolina, Pender County Superior Court judge Benjamin G. Alford ruled that North Carolina's cohabitation law is unconstitutional.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nc-cohabitation-law-struck-down/|title=N.C. Cohabitation Law Struck Down|website=[[CBS News]]|date=14 September 2006|access-date=22 August 2015}}</ref> However, the [[Supreme Court of North Carolina]] has never had the opportunity to rule on it, so the law's statewide constitutionality remains unclear.

On 13 December 2013, [[United States federal judge|US Federal judge]] [[Clark Waddoups]] ruled in ''[[Brown v. Buhman]]'' that the portions of Utah's anti-[[polygamy]] laws which prohibit multiple cohabitation were unconstitutional, but also allowed Utah to maintain its ban on multiple marriage licenses.<ref>{{cite news |last=Schwartz |first=John |date=14 September 2013 |title=A Law Prohibiting Polygamy is Weakened |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/us/a-utah-law-prohibiting-polygamy-is-weakened.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131215&_r=0 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date= 13 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Mears |first=Bill |date=14 December 2013 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/14/justice/utah-polygamy-law/ |title='Sister Wives' case: Judge strikes down part of Utah polygamy law |publisher=[[CNN]] |work=CNN.com |access-date= 13 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Stack |first=Peggy Fletcher |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |date=14 December 2013 |url=http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57264020-78/church-polygamy-mormon-says.html.csp |title=Laws on Mormon polygamists lead to win for plural marriage |newspaper=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]] |access-date=13 January 2014}}</ref> This decision was overturned by the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit]], thus effectively recriminalizing polygamy as a felony.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-utah-polygamy-sisterwives-idUSKCN0X82AJ |title=Appeals court restores Utah's polygamy law in 'Sister Wives' case |work=Reuters |date=11 April 2016}}</ref> In 2020, Utah voted to downgrade polygamy from a felony to an [[infraction]], but it remains a felony if force, threats or other abuses are involved.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/13/us/utah-bigamy-law.html |title=Utah Lowers Penalty for Polygamy, No Longer a Felony |newspaper=The New York Times |date=13 May 2020 |last1=Hauser |first1=Christine}}</ref> Unlawful cohabitation, where prosecutors did not need to prove that a marriage ceremony had taken place (only that a couple had lived together), had been a major tool used to prosecute polygamy in Utah since the 1882 [[Edmunds Act]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Jessie L. |last=Embry |contribution=Polygamy |contribution-url= http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/p/POLYGAMY.html |editor-last=Powell |editor-first=Allan Kent |year=1994 |title=Utah History Encyclopedia |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |publisher=[[University of Utah Press]] |isbn=978-0874804256 |oclc=30473917 |access-date=13 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170417163937/http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/p/POLYGAMY.html}}</ref>