In the UK, the number of cohabiting couples who aren’t married or in a civil partnership is on the rise – reaching almost 25 per cent in the 2020s.
However, laws benefitting married couples do not reflect this evolution of living conditions, with many legal rights of spouses not extended to cohabiting couples.
Most crucially, cohabiting couples have very few legal rights to each other’s estates when one partner dies – unless explicitly stated in a Will or assets are jointly owned.
Dying intestate
When someone dies without a Will, they are said to be intestate.
There are special rules which dictate how a person’s estate is distributed under intestacy, with all assets (under £322,000, which many individuals’ estates are) going to, in order:
You’ll notice that cohabiting partners don’t appear in this list. As they are not counted as a legal relative, they cannot inherit under intestacy – even if they have been in a decades-long relationship with the deceased.
Making a Will
Although cohabitees cannot inherit automatically under the rules of intestacy, they are allowed to leave their estates to whoever they wish in their Will.
Creating a Will allows cohabitees to make specific provisions for each other and any children they may have.
It ensures that assets are distributed according to their wishes, rather than the intestacy rules.
This is particularly important for unmarried couples where one partner has a substantially higher-value estate than the other, as the other partner could be left in a sticky financial situation to compound the loss of their loved one.
Wills for cohabiting couples are essential, as neither the law nor precedent is on their side when challenging intestacy rules.
A word on property
Cohabitees, like other property owners, typically own property either as joint tenants or tenants in common.
Owning a home as joint tenants means that both parties own the entire property together. If one dies, the property automatically passes to the surviving partner, irrespective of any Will.
In contrast, tenants in common own distinct shares of the property, which could be equal or unequal.
This type of ownership does not automatically transfer to the surviving owner on death. Instead, each share can be left to someone else under the terms of a Will, offering more flexibility but requiring more careful estate planning.
For advice on estate planning and Will writing for cohabitees, please contact our team today.
