Protection for unmarried couples

So many couples live together long term and have children, they live together as husband and wife, We may call it common law. So a common law wife/husband in real terms has no law at all to protect them, even thogh the term common law suggests it does. Not many couple are aware of this until they split up. Couples who are not married need to be aware of this and need to have the law to protect them as though they are married, So many couples get ripped off because there is no law out there that truly protects them. Not many have legal agreements in place as they are not advised to do so.
Its time for this to be brought upto date and have equal protection for all. if someone gives their whole live over to a relationship and the other person walks out after 19 years, leaving the person without any legal protection is simply wrong. 15 years or even 10 years is considered a lifetime, especially if they have had children together. Its time we were given the same rights as a married couples and all the same responsibilities after they split up, they live together as man and wife so therefore should have the same rights.
A lot of people also suffer violence and abuse, this needs to be taken into account because many people also suffer from long term abuse and violence within their relationship. Many people just get use to it and think its normal, but it is not normal. Again a partner can simply walk away and not have any responsibility because there is no law in place.
There simply needs to be a law in place to protect these couples who have given their lives to a relationship, we are treated as a married couple, we live together as a married couple, so we need the law to protect us.
THE LAW NEEDS TO BE UPDATED, WE ALL NEED EQUAL RIGHTS IN MODERN TIMES!