Unmarried couples who live together

In Israel there are many couples who live together but do not get married. There are many reasons why couples choose not to get married. Marriage is Israel is possible only by a religious ceremony, there is no civil marriage. There are people who can not marry in a religious ceremony, for example a Jew cannot marry a non Jew in a religious ceremony and in the absence of civil marriage in Israel there is no way for them to be married. There are people who do not wish to marry in a religious ceremony be cause if one of the parties wishes to end the relationship with a divorce it is very difficult to get a divorce if both parties do not agree to a divorce.There are also couples who prefer not to marry because often marriage may cause one of the couples to receive lower social benefits.
Many couples are not aware of the fact that the so called informal staus of living together without marriage may cause serious legal implications. One example is para. 55 of the law of inheritance that states that in the absence of a will a couple who live together and meet the criterion of the law are deemed to have made a will which leaves the surviving spouse the share of the estate that he or she would have been entitled to if they were married.
The courts have ruled that couples who live together with a common household and have no formal agreement on the their financial relationship , it is assumed that they have chosen the regime of joint ownership of all property aquired during the period of the relationship in spite of the fact that the property may be registered on the name of only one of the parties to the relationship.