Unmarried Partners After a Death¶

UK succession law treats unmarried partners very differently from spouses and civil partners. There is no such thing as common-law marriage in the UK — living together for any length of time, having children together, and sharing finances do not create marriage-equivalent inheritance rights. The misconception is widespread; surveys consistently find that around half of UK adults believe long-term cohabitation produces automatic legal protections, and it does not.

This guide covers what the law actually says, where the practical protections lie, and what an unmarried partner can do in the first weeks after a death to protect their position.

It is a difficult guide to write at this stage of life. Where a long relationship was assumed to confer protections, the realisation that it does not is often part of the early bereavement experience. The law is what it is; the practical position is often less bleak than the legal starting point suggests, particularly where the couple held property as joint tenants, where a will exists, where the deceased completed pension nomination forms, or where Scottish or court-based remedies are available.

If you can only do one thing today: Establish three things in the first week. (1) Did the deceased leave a will, and what does it say about the surviving partner? (2) How was any shared property held — joint tenants (passes automatically) or tenants in common (deceased's share goes through probate)? (3) Did the deceased complete pension nomination forms naming the partner? These three answers determine 80% of the practical outcome before any legal claim is considered. The will and property questions are answered by reading the documents; the pension question is answered by phoning each pension provider with the deceased's details.

The legal starting point: no automatic inheritance¶

In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, if the deceased dies without a will, the intestacy rules determine who inherits. The statutory order of beneficiaries is: surviving spouse or civil partner, then children, then parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives. Cohabiting partners are nowhere on the list, regardless of the length of the relationship, regardless of whether the couple have children together, regardless of whether they shared a home for decades. The estate passes to the deceased's blood relatives. [source: gov-uk/ifpda-1975-act-2026-04-30.html]

Where the deceased had a will leaving everything to the surviving partner, this does not arise — the will operates and the partner inherits. The intestacy problem is specifically about deaths without a will, which is a substantial share of UK deaths. Around 60% of UK adults do not have an up-to-date will, and the statistic is even higher among unmarried cohabiting couples — leaving the survivor reliant on the IFPDA 1975 court route rather than statutory inheritance.

In Scotland, the picture is slightly better but still limited. Section 29 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 allows a surviving cohabitant to apply to the court for a discretionary share of an intestate estate, separate from the IFPDA route. The court considers the length of cohabitation, the nature of the relationship, the financial arrangements between the parties, and the effect of any award on other beneficiaries. The award cannot exceed what a spouse or civil partner would have received under the equivalent intestacy. The deadline is 6 months from the date of death, extended to 12 months by the Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Act 2024 once that provision comes into force.

The Scottish route is real but discretionary; awards range from substantial to nominal depending on the circumstances. Specialist Scottish family-law advice is essential.

The IFPDA 1975 claim¶

For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the principal route to redress for an unmarried partner is a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (or the near-identical 1979 Order in Northern Ireland). The Act gives the court a discretion to order reasonable financial provision for the maintenance of an applicant who has not been adequately provided for by the deceased's will or by intestacy. [source: gov-uk/ifpda-1975-act-2026-04-30.html]

To qualify as a cohabitant applicant, the survivor must have been living with the deceased "in the same household as the husband, wife or civil partner of the deceased" for the whole of the 2-year period immediately before the date of death. The 2-year continuous-cohabitation test is strict; relationships that did not yet meet the threshold, or that involved any period of separation within the window, do not qualify. [source: gov-uk/ifpda-1975-act-2026-04-30.html]

Where the test is met, the court considers:

The applicant's financial resources, needs, and obligations.
The size and nature of the estate.
The deceased's obligations to the applicant and to other beneficiaries.
The contribution the applicant made to the deceased's welfare.
The age of the applicant and the duration of the cohabitation.
The applicant's standard of living during the relationship.
Any physical or mental disability of the applicant.

The court's award is what is reasonable for the maintenance of the applicant — not necessarily what they would have received as a spouse, and not necessarily a fair share of the estate. Awards range from a modest lump sum or income from a trust at the lower end up to a substantial share of the estate at the upper end, depending on the duration of the relationship, the applicant's needs, and the estate's size.

The deadline is 6 months from the grant of probate or letters of administration, with limited discretion to extend. Out-of-time claims are disfavoured. Specialist contentious-probate solicitors handle these claims; the costs are material (typically £15,000 to £50,000 for a contested case) and are usually paid out of the eventual award.

Property: the joint-tenancy question¶

Where a property is held as joint tenants by the couple, the survivor takes the whole property automatically by right of survivorship — no probate, no will, no intestacy involved. This is by far the strongest practical protection an unmarried couple has, and it works regardless of the length of the relationship. [source: gov-uk/joint-property-ownership-2026-04-30.html]

Where the property is held as tenants in common, the deceased's share is part of the estate and passes under the will or intestacy. Without a will, the deceased's share goes to the deceased's blood relatives; the surviving partner is left co-owning the property with people they may not have chosen. In this scenario, the surviving partner usually has to either negotiate to buy the deceased's relatives out of the deceased's share or face being bought out themselves, or sell the property and split the proceeds. [source: gov-uk/joint-property-ownership-2026-04-30.html]

How to check: HM Land Registry's title register, available for £3 from gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land. A Form A restriction on the proprietorship register indicates tenancy in common; its absence indicates joint tenancy. See Joint tenancy and tenancy in common for more detail.

For couples who currently hold as tenants in common but want to convert to joint tenants, the change can be made during their joint lifetimes by a deed of trust and an application to HM Land Registry. The reverse process — severance of joint tenancy — is also possible but rarely useful in this context. Mortgage after death covers the parallel mortgage implications.

Pensions and the nomination form¶

Most UK workplace and personal pensions hold death benefits at the discretion of the scheme trustees, not as a contractual right of any beneficiary. The nomination form (also called an expression of wish) is the document the member uses to tell the trustees who they would like benefits paid to. Trustees almost always follow a current nomination; where none is on file, they decide using the scheme's discretionary powers, often defaulting to the deceased's spouse, civil partner, or children — and unmarried partners may or may not be considered.

For an unmarried couple, this is the most important pre-death step the deceased could have taken: completing a nomination form for every workplace and personal pension, naming the partner. After death, the survivor's call to each pension provider establishes whether a nomination is on file and who is named. A current nomination usually delivers the death benefit to the named partner within a few weeks; absence of a nomination usually means a longer trustee process and an uncertain outcome.

Where no nomination was completed and the trustees decline to pay the surviving partner, the partner can apply to be considered through the scheme's internal-dispute resolution process (most schemes have one) and, ultimately, refer the matter to the Pensions Ombudsman. Outcomes vary; long-term cohabitation with shared finances is usually persuasive; brief or undocumented relationships are not.

The State Pension does not pass to unmarried partners on any terms.

Bank accounts, ISAs, and savings¶

Joint bank accounts held with right of survivorship pass automatically to the survivor, in the same way as joint tenancy of property. The surviving account holder retains full access. This is the standard structure for joint current and savings accounts at all major UK banks. See Notifying banks and building societies after a death.

Sole accounts of the deceased are frozen on notification of death and the funds form part of the estate. The surviving partner has no automatic claim. Where the partner inherits under a will, they receive the funds in due course; where they do not, they have no claim except through an IFPDA 1975 claim (England, Wales, NI) or the Section 29 route (Scotland).

ISAs are personal accounts and do not pass automatically to anyone, even a spouse — although for spouses and civil partners the APS (Additional Permitted Subscription) allowance preserves the tax-free status of the ISA value when it transfers to the surviving spouse. Unmarried partners do not benefit from APS; the deceased's ISA value loses its tax-free status when it passes to them.

Premium Bonds held by the deceased remain in the prize draw for 12 months after the date of death (see NS&I); after that they must be cashed in or transferred. Inherited bonds cannot be re-registered into the surviving partner's name retaining the bond numbers.

Life insurance¶

A life insurance policy written in trust pays directly to the named beneficiary and does not form part of the estate. For an unmarried couple, this is the most important planning step the deceased could have taken: any life insurance written in trust to the partner pays out within days of the death, regardless of the will or intestacy. See Claiming life insurance after a death.

A non-trust policy pays into the estate; the proceeds are then subject to the will, intestacy, inheritance tax, and any debts of the estate. Unmarried partners do not benefit from the spouse exemption from inheritance tax, so a non-trust policy passing to a partner in a £400,000 estate produces a 40% tax bill on the £75,000 above the nil-rate band — £30,000 of tax that would not have applied if the couple were married or the policy were in trust.

Bereavement Support Payment¶

Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) was extended in 2023 to include unmarried cohabiting partners — but only where the surviving partner has dependent children with the deceased (or is pregnant by them at the date of death). [source: gov-uk/bereavement-support-payment-eligibility-2026-04-29.html]

Cohabitants with dependent children qualify for the higher rate of BSP (£3,500 lump sum plus 18 monthly payments of £350, totalling £9,800). Cohabitants without dependent children do not qualify for any BSP — the older statutory exclusion of unmarried partners remains in force at the lower rate.

The deceased must have had sufficient National Insurance contributions to qualify the relationship, and the survivor must claim within 21 months of death, with the full payment available only on a claim within the first 3 months. See Stopping benefits after a death for the full BSP mechanics.

Inheritance tax: no spouse exemption¶

Spouses and civil partners can leave each other an unlimited amount of estate free of inheritance tax. Unmarried partners cannot. Whatever the deceased leaves to the surviving unmarried partner is treated as a transfer to a non-spouse for IHT purposes and counts towards the nil-rate band; amounts above are taxed at 40%.

The residence nil-rate band is more complicated. The £175,000 RNRB is available where the home passes to "direct descendants" — children, grandchildren, step-children, but not a partner. An unmarried partner inheriting the home does not unlock the RNRB.

For couples who have not married but are leaving estates close to or above the £325,000 threshold, the practical IHT advice is: marriage or civil partnership eliminates the issue at the cost of the legal change in relationship; failing that, life insurance written in trust to fund the IHT bill protects the home for the survivor; failing that, planned lifetime gifts, written-in-trust life cover, and careful use of the RNRB to direct descendants can reduce the eventual liability.

Funeral arrangements¶

The executor of the deceased's will has the legal authority to arrange the funeral. Where there is no will, the legal authority sits with whoever is entitled to administer the estate under the intestacy rules. An unmarried partner is not automatically the person with that authority unless they were named executor or are the only relative.

In most cases, the deceased's family work cooperatively with the surviving partner to arrange the funeral the deceased would have wanted, and the legal authority is not the practical issue. Where the family is hostile or where the deceased's wishes are disputed, the surviving partner has limited standing to insist on a particular form of service. Specialist legal advice is occasionally needed; in extreme cases the court can be asked to determine the arrangements, although this is rare.

The strongest protection is for the deceased to have named the partner as executor in a will — the executor's authority over the funeral is then unambiguous. See Arranging a funeral.

Practical checklist for the first weeks¶

For an unmarried partner whose partner has just died, the priority sequence in the first 1 to 2 weeks before any legal claim needs to be considered:

Obtain the death certificate from the registrar; order at least 5 to 10 certified copies.
Read the will if there is one. Find out whether the partner is named as executor and as a beneficiary.
Check the property title at HM Land Registry. Confirm whether held as joint tenants or tenants in common.
Phone every pension provider the deceased held a pension with. Establish whether a nomination form is on file and who is named.
Contact every life insurer the deceased had a policy with. Establish whether the policy is written in trust and who the beneficiaries are.
Notify the bank of any joint accounts to update the survivor as sole holder. Notify of sole accounts in case the survivor is named in a will.
Apply for Bereavement Support Payment if there are dependent children.
Take legal advice on the IFPDA 1975 (or Section 29 in Scotland) if there is no will or if the will leaves inadequate provision. The 6-month deadline starts running from grant of probate.

A consultation with a contentious-probate solicitor is often the single most useful step. Most offer free 30-minute initial consultations; the solicitor can quickly identify whether a claim is likely to succeed, what evidence will be needed, and what the realistic timeline and costs look like.

Reform discussions¶

Cohabitant-rights reform has been on the Law Commission's agenda for over a decade. The Law Commission's 2007 report on cohabitation recommended granting cohabitants statutory rights similar to (but weaker than) spouse rights; successive UK governments have not implemented the recommendations. Scotland implemented a partial regime in 2006, and the Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Act 2024 strengthens it; England, Wales, and Northern Ireland remain on the same statutory basis as in 1975.

Unmarried couples should plan around the law as it currently stands rather than wait for reform. The practical steps — wills, joint tenancy, pension nominations, life cover written in trust, joint bank accounts — deliver near-equivalent protection in most cases without requiring marriage or civil partnership.

What this guide doesn't cover¶

This guide is about the surviving partner's position after a death. It does not cover broader cohabitation law (rights during the relationship, rights on separation rather than death) or the position of children of unmarried couples (which is largely the same as for children of married couples, with some specific differences around parental responsibility for unmarried fathers).

It also does not cover the full intestacy rules (covered separately), inheritance tax in detail, or the interaction with estate debts — each has its own dedicated guide.

If you're struggling, you don't have to do this alone. Samaritans (116 123, 24/7) | Cruse Bereavement Care (0808 808 1677) | Mind (0300 123 3393) | Cohabitation Rights Bill information at Resolution

Next: How to apply for probate

Last verified: 30 April 2026 against the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 and gov.uk/joint-property-ownership.