A prolonged “come-we-stay” relationship can amount to a marriage where a couple has lived together for years and conducted themselves as husband and wife.

📋 Breaking It Down

A prolonged “come-we-stay” relationship can amount to a marriage where a couple has lived together for years and conducted themselves as husband and wife, a Nairobi High Court has ruled.

Upholding a magistrate’s finding that a couple who lived together for 12 years were presumed married, the court said living together does not automatically create a marriage, but conduct can support that presumption where conditions are met.

The couple, codenamed Mr JHN and Ms JNK, began living together in 2003, had two children and later separated in 2023.

📌 What You Need to Know

The court said the entire 20-year relationship could not support a presumed marriage because the man was still legally married to another woman until March 2010.

The court agreed that the relevant period began in 2011, after Mr JHN’s earlier marriage ended, and found that the 12 years until 2023 amounted to “a period of long cohabitation”. Witnesses said that during the duration of the disputed affair they consistently presented themselves as husband and wife.

Read: Cohabiting is not marriage, separation is not divorce: What courts say

In 2024, the man moved to court seeking divorce and a declaration that their cohabitation had led to a presumption of marriage.

The couple had two children, born in 2006 and 2011. The woman, JNK, appealed after Milimani Chief Magistrate Court declared that the parties were presumed married and dissolved the marriage on grounds of cruelty.

Ms JNK was aggrieved with that finding, arguing that their relationship was an interdependent partnership rather than a marriage and challenged the evidence used to establish a presumed union.

📰 Source: Nation Africa