Families and couples (DOI: 10.2436/20.3000.02.13)

This article analyses the common-law couple and formulates coherent answers, based on Catalan civil law, that meet the needs posed by this kind of relationship. The confusion between married couples and common-law couples and between marriage and family has triggered the main problems and distortions. The article addresses the regulation of vertical and horizontal couple relationships and assesses the meaning and functions of a regulation on common-law couples in legal systems which have approved same-sex marriage. It also considers the need for different levels of legislative intervention for different models of couple and warns against harmonizing the laws on couplehood in the autonomous communities with the competencies to enact these laws in Spain.Key words: common-law couple, same-sex couples, Catalan civil law, registered couple, informal cohabitation, familyOriginal source: Revista Catalana de Dret Privat, 10: 77-113 (2009