Estate planning for unmarried couples — the rules that cost partners everything
Quick answer: Unmarried partners (including long-term cohabitees) have no automatic inheritance rights under UK intestacy and no spousal Inheritance Tax exemption.
Unmarried partners (including long-term cohabitees) have no automatic inheritance rights under UK intestacy and no spousal Inheritance Tax exemption. Without a will, a surviving partner can be left with nothing, even after decades together. Three documents fix the worst of this.
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Primary source: https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will
The three documents every unmarried couple needs
Mirror wills (one each) leaving everything to the partner, with substitution clauses to children or other beneficiaries. Without a will, the partner inherits nothing.
A Lasting Power of Attorney (property and financial affairs) for each partner. Without it, a serious illness leaves the other partner unable to manage the household finances even on a joint account.
A Health and Welfare LPA — particularly important because unmarried partners are not 'next of kin' for NHS or care-home consent purposes by default.
How property is held really matters
Joint tenancy: both partners own the whole asset. On death, the survivor automatically owns it — bypassing the will and intestacy. This is the default for most jointly-bought homes.
Tenants in common: each partner owns a specific share (often 50:50, but can be any split). The share passes under the deceased's will or intestacy — not automatically to the partner.
A 'severance of joint tenancy' notice changes joint tenancy into tenants in common. Couples often do this so that each share can be left into a life-interest trust for the children of a previous relationship while still letting the survivor live in the house.
Inheritance Tax planning without a spouse exemption
No spousal exemption means every transfer between partners on death is potentially taxable. The two main allowances are the £325,000 nil-rate band and (where the home passes to direct descendants) the £175,000 residence nil-rate band per partner.
Lifetime gifts use the same 7-year PET rules as for married couples. Whole-of-life insurance written in trust can fund the IHT bill so the survivor doesn't have to sell the home.
A long-term cohabitee who is left with insufficient resources may bring an Inheritance Act 1975 claim within 6 months of the grant of probate — but this is expensive, contentious and slow.
Common questions
- Are we 'common-law married' after 7 years?
- No. There is no such thing as a common-law marriage in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. No matter how long you've lived together, you have no automatic inheritance rights without marriage, civil partnership or a will.
- Will joint bank accounts pass to my partner?
- Yes — money in a joint account passes automatically to the surviving account holder by right of survivorship, outside the will. But the deceased's share is still counted in the estate for IHT purposes.
- Can my partner block our children from inheriting?
- Only to the extent of the assets you leave to your partner outright. A life-interest trust in your will lets your partner use the home or trust income for life, while the underlying capital passes to your chosen beneficiaries (often your children) on their death.