Unmarried couples in England and Wales have no automatic right to inherit from each other. Here’s why a will matters, what your children can still claim, and the tax trap.
You’ve been with your partner for 15 years. You share a mortgage, a dog and opinions about the neighbours. If you died tomorrow, the law in England and Wales would treat her about the same as the postman.
A lot of people believe in the “common-law wife”. It doesn’t exist. If you’re not married or in a civil partnership and you die without a will, your partner gets nothing automatically. If you have children from an earlier relationship, they could end up owning the roof over her head.
No. When someone dies without a valid will in England and Wales, the intestacy rules decide who gets what. They only recognise spouses, civil partners and blood relatives. A cohabiting partner isn’t on the list, however long you’ve been together and whether or not you have children together.
Here’s how the rules work for married couples. Since 26 July 2023, a surviving spouse or civil partner with children gets all the personal possessions, the first £322,000 of the estate (the statutory legacy) and half of whatever is left. The children share the other half. Without children, the spouse usually gets the lot.
For an unmarried partner, the figure is zero. Take Steve, 58. His house is in his name only and worth £400,000, and he has two adult children from his first marriage. If Steve dies without a will, everything goes to his children. His partner of 12 years, Karen, has no right to stay in the house beyond whatever the children decide to allow.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own succession rules. The basic point is the same in both: cohabitants don’t inherit automatically. In Scotland a surviving cohabitant can apply to the court, but only within six months of the death.
In England and Wales, Karen’s only option would be a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. A cohabitant qualifies if they lived with the person in the same household, as if married, for the whole two years immediately before the death. A partner who was being supported financially by the person who died may also be able to claim.
The catch is the standard the court applies. A surviving spouse is judged on what is reasonable in all the circumstances. A cohabitant only gets what is reasonable for their maintenance: housing, income and day-to-day living costs. That is a lot less generous. The claim normally has to be issued within six months of the grant of probate or letters of administration. It means suing your partner’s children while you’re grieving, and paying lawyers to do it.
It’s possible. It’s also a miserable way to find out you were right about needing a will.
The law won’t guess what you meant. If you want your partner protected, you have to write it down and sign it properly.
Mostly, yes. Some countries give children a guaranteed share of a parent’s estate. England and Wales don’t. You can leave your estate to whoever you like.
Children of any age can still bring a claim under the 1975 Act, and so can stepchildren treated as children of the family. But adult children who support themselves usually have to show a real need for maintenance, and the courts don’t hand out awards just because a child feels hard done by. The best-known case, Ilott v Mitchell, went all the way to the Supreme Court in 2017. An estranged daughter left out of her mother’s will did get an award, but the Supreme Court cut it back to the original modest figure. The judges made clear that a parent’s freedom to choose who inherits still counts for a lot.
Scotland is different. Children there have “legal rights” to a fixed share of the movable estate, meaning money, investments and belongings rather than land and buildings, whatever the will says. You can’t fully disinherit them. If you have assets in more than one part of the UK, take advice that covers each one.
A will gets the house to your partner. It doesn’t make the transfer tax-free. Married couples and civil partners can leave each other everything free of inheritance tax. Cohabitants can’t.
Go back to Steve. He changes his will and leaves the £400,000 house to Karen. The nil-rate band of £325,000 is frozen until April 2030. That leaves £75,000 taxed at 40%, which is a £30,000 bill before anything else Steve owned is counted. The extra £175,000 residence nil-rate band only applies when a home passes to direct descendants, such as children or grandchildren, so Karen can’t use it. If she doesn’t have £30,000 to spare, she may have to borrow or sell.
This is also changing: from April 2027, most unused pension pots are due to count towards your estate for inheritance tax. That makes the gap between married and unmarried couples wider. Pension death benefits usually depend on the nomination (expression of wish) form you’ve filled in with the scheme, not your will. Check it says what you want.
In England and Wales, the Wills Act 1837 still sets the rules. A will must be in writing and signed by you in front of two witnesses who are there at the same time, and they must sign too. A witness, or a witness’s spouse, who is left something in the will loses that gift. So don’t ask your partner to witness your will.
Check how you own your home. Joint tenants own the whole property together, and when one dies it passes to the other automatically, whatever the will says. Tenants in common each own a share, and your share passes under your will. That’s useful if you want part of the house to end up with your children. You can’t leave a jointly owned share to anyone else unless you change how you own it, known as severing the joint tenancy. Many blended families leave the partner a right to live in the home for life, then pass it to the children. It’s a good compromise, but you need proper drafting.
A simple will from a solicitor typically costs about £150 to £300 for one person, and around £200 to £400 for a couple making near-identical “mirror” wills. Trusts or property in more than one country cost more. For comparison, defending or bringing a 1975 Act claim can run into tens of thousands.
One more thing: in England and Wales, marriage cancels an existing will unless it was written with that marriage in mind. If you do eventually get married, write a new will.
In England and Wales, an unmarried partner inherits nothing automatically. Without a will, they’re left with a 1975 Act claim that is limited to maintenance and has to be made within six months of probate. A properly witnessed will fixes that, and your children have only limited grounds to challenge it outside Scotland. Your partner still won’t get the inheritance tax exemption that spouses get, so check how you own your home, look at your pension nominations and talk to a solicitor or an FCA-regulated adviser about your own situation.
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