The instability of common-law relationships
This article examines common-law relationships through the prism of conjugal instability. In a comparative perspective, we show that common-law relationships, more popular in Quebec, are more stable there than elsewhere in Canada, where marriage is more prevalent. Yet across Canada, marriage – even more so than the arrival of a child – tends to decrease instability in couples whose conjugal life began as a common-law union. It is only after living together for a fairly long period of time that the stability of common-law couples, with or without children, begins to approximate that of married couples.