Abstract: “Wholly unrelated to . . . marriage, courts have recognized the existence of meretricious relationships, which this court has determined to be stable, cohabiting relationships.”1 In the nearly twenty-five years since Pennington, Washington courts have developed a robust jurisprudence regarding these relationships, now called committed intimate relationships (CIRs). The equitable doctrine developed by Washington courts is groundbreaking in recognizing property rights of persons in unmarried relationships, particularly in light of the demise of common law marriage. As of 2019, more than seventeen million people, representing seven percent of American adults, were cohabitating, but economic protection of those cohabitants varies significantly by state and is much more tenuous than rights afforded to married persons. The Washington approach extends some considerable protection to the more vulnerable cohabitants, such as a partner not employed outside the home or couples who were historically unable to marry, and it bases that protection on the existence of the relationship rather than actual contributions by or agreements between partners.
“Marriages” have taken many shapes and forms, with varying levels of formality, governmental involvement, and documentation, at least since Roman times. Since there is a lack of consistent and authoritative documentary evidence establishing CIRs, as would be present in a marriage, litigating a CIR case requires first establishing the relationship before any property division. Courts must undertake a fact-driven analysis to determine whether certain factors are met: “continuous cohabitation, duration of the relationship, purpose of the relationship, pooling of resources and services for joint projects, and the intent of the parties.”2 Only afterwards will the court divide the property, and then only the property that would have been community property if the parties had been married. Because the doctrine is still evolving based on the cases presented to the appellate courts, there are significant issues still to be resolved.
