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“We’re Basically Married” — Why That’s Not How the Law Works!
Here’s a number that should worry you: nearly half of all adults living with a partner in England and Wales believe they’re in a “common law marriage” with the same legal protections as a married couple.
They’re not. Common law marriage does not exist in UK law.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve been together five years or fifty. It doesn’t matter if you share a mortgage, raise children together, or wear matching rings. In the eyes of the law, an unmarried partner has no automatic right to inherit anything when their other half dies.
What actually happens if your partner dies without a will
Think of it like a queue at the post office. The law has a strict order of who gets served first — and unmarried partners aren’t even in the queue.
Under the intestacy rules (the rules that apply when someone dies without a valid will), the estate passes in this order:
Spouse or civil partner → children → parents → siblings → more distant relatives
Notice who’s missing? Your partner. The person you’ve shared a home with for decades. The parent of your children. They’re not mentioned. At all.
A scenario that happens more often than you’d think
Sophie and Daniel have been together for 17 years. They have two children, a joint mortgage, and a life they’ve built from scratch. Neither has made a will — they assumed everything would “just go to the other one.”
Daniel dies suddenly.
Under the intestacy rules, Daniel’s estate passes to their children — not to Sophie. The children are minors, so the money is held in trust until they turn 18. Sophie has no automatic right to the family home unless she can prove her financial contribution through complicated property law.
Sophie may be able to make a claim through the courts under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, but that means legal fees, delays, stress — and no guarantee of the outcome she needs.
All of this could have been avoided with a simple will.
The fix is straightforward
If you’re living with someone and you’re not married or in a civil partnership, you both need wills. It’s the only way to make sure you’re protected.
A will lets you name your partner as a beneficiary, appoint guardians for your children, and make sure your wishes — not a set of rules written before most of us were born — decide what happens.
One thing to keep in mind about tax
Married couples and civil partners can pass assets to each other free of inheritance tax. Unmarried couples can’t. That means if you leave everything to your partner, anything above the £325,000 nil-rate band could be taxed at 40%.
A good estate planner can help you structure things to reduce this — for example, using trusts or life insurance written in trust — but the first step is having a will in the first place.
Is reform coming?
The Women and Equalities Committee called on the government to update the law to recognise cohabiting couples. The Law Commission recommended changes to intestacy rules in 2011, and proposed a broader cohabitation scheme as far back as 2007. But for years, governments declined to act.
There are now signs of movement. Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledged to strengthen legal protections for cohabiting couples, and the House of Lords has indicated that a formal consultation on what cohabitation reform should look like is expected in Spring 2026. That’s progress — but consultation is not legislation. Think of it like a planning application: even once it’s submitted, there’s a long road before anyone breaks ground.
Until the law actually changes, a will remains your safety net.
Have a conversation about it
If you and your partner haven’t made wills yet, it’s worth having that chat. We’re an estate planning company and we’re happy to talk you through the options — no pressure, no jargon, just a friendly conversation.
Sources:
- Women and Equalities Committee, The rights of cohabiting partners (2022)
- House of Commons Library, “Common law marriage” and cohabitation
- Stewarts, The state of cohabitation law in the UK
- Administration of Estates Act 1925
- Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
- ONS, Families and households in the UK: 2021
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice.
