PREMIUM Cohabiting is not marriage, separation is not divorce: What courts say What couples should know from recent key court decisions. News Just now

Article A recent High Court decision in Mombasa has once again thrust into the spotlight a question that has long troubled Kenyan courts: when does a relationship become a marriage, and can a marriage be treated as having ended even without a formal divorce?

While the Supreme Court has made it harder for courts to presume the existence of a marriage from cohabitation alone, the recent ruling shows that judges may still be called upon to determine the true nature of relationships where formal legal documents do not tell the whole story.

The High Court dismissed the claim in 2017, finding that although the parties had cohabited for a long time, the doctrine of presumption of marriage could not apply because MNK was already married to another woman, identified as KM.