Anonymous wrote:My partner and I have this arrangement but we don't need to get married. I don't think it's that big of a deal or anything revolutionary esp for divorced people with kids.

then, perhaps your situation is not relevant to the discussion.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would do this in a heartbeat and have thought so for years!

Our therapist recommended this to us as my spouse is a work addict and very difficult to live with. Plus sleeps from 8pm-5am so is never contributing to the household or children except making messes and running off.

It’s also common and recommended when one spouse has high functioning autism. They need their significant downtime which isn’t conducive to children’s needs or a family schedule plus they can lash out badly when having a bad day.

Anonymous wrote:My partner and I have this arrangement but we don't need to get married. I don't think it's that big of a deal or anything revolutionary esp for divorced people with kids.

This, the bold. My best friend has had a committed partner for nearly 20 years now and they've never lived together. Taken vacations together, stayed together in each others houses occasionally, but neither ever thought of giving up their own home, for many reasons. Yet they're entirely committed.

I know other couples, married or unmarried, who did the same, and...those couples were in my late mother's generation!

So this isn't new, OP, but it's an attempt to create a label for something that just IS, and has been, for ages. I think there's a strong tendency in recent years to feel everything needs labels, packaging, discussion, social media traction, trendiness. Really, as PP says, this just is not revolutionary. It's not even a "trend" though some are going to write about it as if it is. We're all so socialized to assume everyone marries off and lives under the same roof, or they break up, and that's not reality.