Whether Couples Living In Live-In Relationships Have A Right To Adopt A Child?

Poorva Chawla, New Law College, Pune (Bharati Vidhyapeeth University)

INTRODUCTION:

A live-in relationship can be described as a relationship similar to that of marriage where both partners reside in a shared household without being legally married to each other. Though there is continuous cohabitation between the partners they are not obligated to have any kind of responsibilities towards each other as there is no legal binding. Subsequently, there is no restriction on either of the parties to quit the relationship whenever they want to. The Indian laws do not enumerate a precise definition of a ‘live-in’ relationship, therefore the legal status of live-in relationships is not clearly established yet. However, the High Court of Kerala in its recent judgment has finally cleared the fog creating ambiguity over the legal status of children born out of live-in relationships. This article will be dealing with the legal status of a child born in a live-in relationship.