08/28/2025
Does staying single avoid the complications of a messy divorce? Not really.
The Domestic Relations Law sets forth the mechanism for not just obtaining a divorce, but for addressing all of the ancillary issues that come with divorce, such as child custody, child support, spousal maintenance, equitable distribution and counsel fees.
When people engage in economic and familial partnership without getting married, they still have to address all of these ancillary issues upon ending the partnership. They can address custody and child support in Family Court. But the remaining issues have to be resolved without the benefit of a guideline like the domestic relations law. This makes the process of ending the partnership much more complicated, and often leads to one of the parties getting short changed.
Staying single does not avoid the complications that come with disentanglement, and often makes the problem more complicated and significant. If you are going to engage in such a partnership without getting married, you should have a partnership agreement that creates guidelines and clarifies rights and obligations. And hiring a divorce lawyer to draft that agreement is the best way to ensure that you have a plan for disentanglement if the relationship ends.
