Does an Unmarried Partner Inherit?

The intestacy rules that apply in England and Wales when someone dies without a will set out a fixed order of relatives who can inherit, and an unmarried partner is not on that list at any stage. It does not matter whether the couple had children together, owned a home together, or had been together for thirty years. Without a will, or without falling into one of the limited exceptions below, a surviving partner inherits nothing automatically.

This differs sharply from the position of a married or civil partner, who is prioritised at the top of the intestacy order. The distinction is purely about legal status, not about the substance of the relationship.

A surviving cohabiting partner who was financially dependent on the deceased, or who lived with them as a couple for at least two years before death, may be able to bring a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. This allows a court to award 'reasonable financial provision' from the estate.

This route is not automatic, is not guaranteed to succeed, and typically involves legal costs and delay at what is already a difficult time. It is best understood as a safety net for people who were left out of provision entirely, not as an equivalent alternative to a will.

The way a couple's home is owned matters a great deal here. If the property is held as 'joint tenants', it passes automatically to the surviving partner outside the will or the intestacy rules, by survivorship. If it is held as 'tenants in common', the deceased's share forms part of their estate and is dealt with under their will, or under intestacy if there is none.

Couples who are unsure how their property is held can check this with HM Land Registry, and it is worth reviewing alongside making a will, since the two interact directly.

The straightforward way to ensure an unmarried partner inherits is to make a will that names them as a beneficiary. This removes any need to rely on a court claim and gives both partners certainty. It is equally important for both partners in the relationship to make wills, since the rules apply the same way to each of them individually.

A service such as My Posh Will allows unmarried couples to set out clearly who should inherit, name guardians for children if relevant, and appoint executors they trust, all of which the intestacy rules cannot provide for a partner who is not married.

Consider a couple who have lived together for fifteen years in a home owned as tenants in common, contributed jointly to household finances, but never married. If one partner dies without a will, their share of the home does not automatically pass to the surviving partner. Instead it forms part of the estate and passes under the intestacy rules, most likely to the deceased's children from an earlier relationship, or to parents or siblings if there are no children, leaving the surviving partner with no automatic right to the home they have lived in for years.

The surviving partner in this scenario might be able to bring a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, given the length of cohabitation, but this involves court proceedings, legal costs, and considerable delay and stress at an already difficult time. A will naming the partner as a beneficiary would have avoided the need for any of this.

Each partner in an unmarried couple should make their own will naming the other as a beneficiary to the extent they wish, rather than assuming a shared understanding is enough. It is also worth checking how any jointly owned property is held, since joint tenancy and tenancy in common have very different consequences on death, and changing from one to the other is possible if the current arrangement does not match what the couple wants.

Couples should also consider pension nomination forms and life insurance beneficiary details separately, since these often pass outside the will entirely and need to be kept up to date in their own right, alongside naming each other as attorneys under a lasting power of attorney if that is also wanted.