Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies Open access Peer reviewed

Still Conjugality: Alberta's Adult Interdependent Relationships Act at 20

Yukiko Kobayashi Lui

Alberta Law Review | Sep 29, 2026

Abstract

Abstract

Alberta’s Adult Interdependent Relationships Act was ground-breaking as Canada’s first and, to date, only legislation recognizing non-conjugal relationships. So far, scholars of alternative relationship recognition have assumed that the Act expanded the kinds of relationships we recognize in law — namely, non-conjugal ones. However, the analysis I present shows that this is inaccurate as non-conjugal couples are often denied recognition under the Act, which has become a highly important part of the landscape protecting unmarried (“common law”) conjugal couples after relationship breakdown. The article ends with a theoretical exploration into the future of scholarly arguments to recognize non-conjugal relationships and families, suggesting that previous choice-based arguments are not enough and must be supplemented with an analysis that troubles recognition and centres family law’s distributive functions.

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Yukiko Kobayashi Lui

first | University of Windsor | ORCID 0009-0003-3965-6402

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@article{Lui2026Still,
  title = {Still Conjugality: Alberta's Adult Interdependent Relationships Act at 20},
  author = {Yukiko Kobayashi Lui},
  journal = {Alberta Law Review},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.29173/alr2907},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.29173/alr2907}
}

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