Blumenthal v. Brewer
Illinois Supreme Court
69 N.E. 3d 834 (2016)
Dr. Jane Blumenthal (plaintiff) and Judge Eileen Brewer (defendant) lived together for years in a marriage-like but legally unmarried relationship, commingling assets, including Brewer's help funding Blumenthal's purchase of her medical practice interest while Brewer focused on raising their children. When the relationship ended, Blumenthal sought partition of their home, and Brewer counterclaimed for common law restitution seeking an equal division of all assets, acknowledging the relationship was functionally identical to marriage. The trial court dismissed Brewer's counterclaim based on Illinois's prohibition on common law marriage, and the appellate court reversed.
Whether unmarried domestic partners can enforce mutual property rights against each other without an economic justification independent of their relationship.