Three men in Colombia have entered into a legally binding arrangement formalising their relationship. They had a fourth companion, who has since died of cancer. It has raised new debate about the forms of legally-binding relationship that can exist.

Theirs is not a legal relationship status that would be formally recognised in the UK. Throughout Europe, there are arrangements as to what relationships are recognised as being legal. For example, in some countries same-sex marriage is considered legal, in others it is not. Civil marriage is recognised in all countries in Europe. If you marry in a country where a particular relationship is deemed to be entered into legally and then move to where it is not, the relationship will not be legally recognised in the new country. The ‘Your Europe’ website provides information relating to this.

In the UK at the moment, your legal relationship options are limited. You might be single (having never been married or entered into a civil partnership); divorced (having been married but the marriage having ended); married; in a civil partnership (although we do not hear of people being dissolvees after the end of a civil partnership); or widowed (when your former spouse has died). If you are legally separated, you are still actually married.

The good old “common-law husband” or “common-law wife” is not afforded a formal legal relationship status.

The provisions relating to taxation, benefits, testacy and entitlements after the end of a relationship vary greatly depending on the legal status of the relationship.

You can now convert a civil partnership into a marriage (although we don’t use the label to refer to the legal status as ‘converts’).

The benefits agency, however, has very different criteria for assessing when claims are jointly made…

The Citizen’s Advice Bureau gives helpful information concerning some of the main ramifications of the different statuses.

So is there any immediate prospect of legally binding multiple-party relationships being introduced in the UK? It seems to be extremely unlikely, but attitudes change over time, just as relationships do. Perhaps in the future we will have an international codified legal system that enables us to have relationship statuses that are universally recognised. Until that time, however, the debates will continue to rage…