Some parents choose to live together without getting married.
When parents who aren’t married stop living together, they don't have to get a divorce because there is no marriage to end. But they do need to decide what will happen to their children and how they will divide their property.
The laws about custody and parenting time or visitation, or who children live with when parents separate, are the same for married couples as they are for parents who aren’t married.
However, the laws about dividing property (the things they own together) are not the same.