By Ashlea Ebeling | Wall Street Journal
This week, we’re bringing you stories about the financial impact of divorce.
Soon after Sharareh Moazed and her partner were married in a religious ceremony, she said she moved into his Los Angeles condo and quit her job in engineering management to take care of him and his daughter.
After their split eight years later, she sued for financial support and a share of a multimillion-dollar home. A court dismissed her complaint. They never applied for a marriage license to get legally married.
“It’s totally heartbreaking. The system is very disappointing,” said Moazed, 55, who is studying law and trying to rebuild her life.
If you think divorce is messy, try leaving a life built together without ever having been legally married. More Americans than ever are facing that reality. Over 20 million adults are living together without the legal bonds of marriage, up from 14 million in 2009, according to the National Center for Family & Marriage Research. Protracted court battles around the country over everything from pets to property show how laws haven’t kept up with the changing ways people are coupling up.
Rose Law Group family law attorney Kelsey Fischer tells RLGR, “Marriage isn’t just a romantic commitment; it’s a legal framework. In Arizona, where common‑law marriage isn’t recognized, long‑term unmarried partners can walk away from shared lives with little to no legal protection. Years of caregiving, financial sacrifice, and reliance often don’t matter; title and paperwork do. Courts aren’t applying family law rules but rather they’re improvising with contract and property law, and outcomes are unpredictable at best.
Without marriage or a cohabitation agreement, there’s no presumption of partnership and no safety net for the economically vulnerable partner or if a partner passes. The takeaway isn’t “everyone should marry.” It’s this: if you don’t, you must plan. Clear ownership, written agreements, and early legal advice aren’t romantic but they’re essential. Until the law catches up with modern relationships, planning ahead is often the only real safety net. Love may be personal, but legal rights are not.”
