Polyamorous Relationships

What can a family solicitor help me with?

We offer clear, concise and personalised advice to help you achieve a successful outcome from family solicitors near you. Whatever your situation, our team can draw on over 45 years of experience to offer tailored advice. Some of the issues we can advise on include:

Civil Partnership

Our family law team advises on all legal issues relating to civil partnerships. Whether you need to draft a pre-civil-partnership agreement or if you are seeking advice on wills or dealing with dissolution and its outcomes, we know how to help.

Divorce & Separation

We have a team of leading family solicitors in London, renowned for their compassionate nature when dealing with relationship breakdown and divorce. We’ll work closely with you to make sure the process is straightforward.

Financial Provision

There are many ways of reaching divorce finance settlements. With us, these include solicitor-led negotiations, round-table meetings and alternative dispute resolution methods like mediation and arbitration. Whichever route you take, our experienced family lawyers aim to help you reach a financial settlement with minimal stress and expense.

Cohabitation

Our family law team provides expert advice on disputes involving property ownership whether you are dealing with a disagreement between co-owners or seeking to establish an interest in someone else’s property our experienced family law team is here to help.

Premarital & Cohabitation Agreements

Our specialist family lawyers have been helping our clients for over 45 years. Drafting pre-nuptial and cohabitation agreements is an area of expertise; we’re here to ensure no important detail is missed.

Children

It is always best if parents can reach an agreement on arrangements for their children, on their own terms. However, we understand that this isn’t always possible. With the help of our family law solicitors near you, we can draft a parenting plan together. We’ll make sure that you reach a solution through mediation, arbitration and roundtable meetings if necessary.

Leave To Remove

If a parent wishes to relocate outside England and Wales, they will require the consent of all those who have parental responsibility for the child. If an agreement cannot be reached, the parent wishing to relocate will need to apply to Court for the Court’s permission. Our specialist family law solicitors have extensive experience in representing parents seeking to relocate and parents opposing the relocation. We’re here to help you find answers and solutions, with a sensitive and personalised approach at all times.

Domestic Abuse

Domestic violence affects people of all genders. It also affects children who are aware of or witness abusive behaviour. If you’d like to discuss legal protection for yourself and your children, our specialist domestic violence team will work with you in the strictest confidence to support you.

Family Mediation

The aim of mediation is to help people engage in discussions together, with an end goal to make the best possible arrangements for separation despite the circumstances for the family. Our family law solicitors in Liverpool and London know just how to make sure everyone is on the same page. We always work towards the fairest outcome.

What is the legal status of a polyamorous relationship?

A polyamorous relationship can take many forms. Typically it has 3 or more consenting people (with a relationship consisting of three people being nicknamed a ‘throuple’). The law in England & Wales currently defines a legal marriage/civil partnership as between two people over the age of 18. The law therefore prohibits any relationship with multiple partners (and is actually a criminal offence called bigamy). Therefore, polyamorous relationships currently have no legal status in England and Wales.

The legal status of the people involved of course depends on the individual circumstances. It may involve a married couple, or civil partners, with the addition of other partners (who are not in the marriage or civil partnership) or all partners could be unmarried. It should be noted that where there is a mix of married/civil partnered and unmarried partners, the unmarried partners are far more vulnerable than the married/civil partners as their claims are limited to property ownership pursuant to TOLATA 1996 or if there are children then there may be a claim for financial provision on behalf of a child under Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989. There is also additional provision if the partners are engaged.

It is important to understand your rights in a polyamorous relationship as they may not be the same as the other partners, even if you share financial assets, responsibilities and childcare responsibilities. Please click through the various topics above to understand the legal status of your particular relationship format.

What happens if a polyamorous relationship breakdown?

As above, it depends on the legal status of the relationship in the first place. The law in England & Wales currently defines a legal marriage/civil partnership as between two people over the age of 18; therefore you may fall into one of the following two categories as a partner in a polyamorous relationship and this can determine what legal options/routes may be applicable to you:

1. If you are married or in a civil partnership with a primary partner, and the relationship breaks down you will need to consider either divorce or dissolution of the civil partnership and the associated financial issues. See more – divorce & dissolution and financial remedy sub-pages
2. If you’re in a polyamorous relationship and (a) not married or in a civil partnership or (b) you’re the non-married partner for example in a throuple, divorce/dissolution won’t applicable and the laws equivalent to ‘cohabitees’ are more likely to apply. See more – cohabiting couples & unmarried families sub-pages

If there are children of the family, and you’re not certain of your rights following the breakdown of a polyamorous relationship please do not hesitate to get in touch whether or not you are a biological parent. The law in this area is complex and it would be beneficial to talk it through with one of our solicitors.