Many adult partners choose to live together (cohabitation) on a long-term basis rather than marry.
The union of a male and female slave had not the legal character of a marriage; it was a cohabitation (contubernium) merely, which was tolerated, and might be terminated at will, by the master; a slave was, therefore, not capable of the crime of adultery.
Alimony reform calls for payment terms to cease immediately upon the recipient's re-marriage or cohabitation with a new partner lasting at least three months.
A stepfamily is formed by the marriage or long-term cohabitation of two individuals, when one or both have at least one child from a previous relationship living part-time or full-time in the household.
If then they so wished, the temporary marriage could be made permanent; if not, they could go their several ways without reproach, the child, if any, being supported by the party who objected to further cohabitation.