Cohabiting couples’ inheritance rights in 2026

There are now 3.5 million cohabiting-couple families in England and Wales, making up 17.6% of all families, according to the Office for National Statistics’ 2025 figures. Living together without marrying or forming a civil partnership is now entirely mainstream. What has not kept pace is cohabiting couples’ inheritance rights, which still treats married and unmarried couples very differently when one partner dies. A change may be coming, but for now, the position remains stark.

Common-law marriage is a myth: there is no ‘common-law spouse’

It is one of the most persistent misconceptions in English law: that after a certain number of years together, an unmarried couple acquires the same rights as a married couple. It does not. However long you have lived together, however many bills you have split or however many years you have shared a home, the law does not treat you as your partner’s spouse unless you are married or in a civil partnership.

What happens to a cohabiting partner if there is no will

If someone dies without a valid will, their estate is distributed under the rules of intestacy. Those rules set out a strict order of entitlement – spouse or civil partner first, then children, then other relatives. However long the relationship lasts, a cohabiting partner is not included in that order. In practical terms, this means:

• Your partner has no automatic right to your home, your savings, or anything else in your estate, even if you have lived together for decades.
• If you own your home in your sole name, your partner could, in principle, find themselves with no legal right to remain there.
• Even jointly owned assets are not always straightforward. If a property is held as tenants in common rather than joint tenants, your share does not automatically pass to your partner on death – it passes under the intestacy rules to your relatives.

The fallback claim, and its limits

A surviving cohabitant is not entirely without recourse. Someone who lived with the deceased as a couple for at least two years before the death, or who was financially dependent on them, 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. It is not, however, a substitute for a will. A 1975 Act claim is contested litigation: it takes time, costs money, is not guaranteed to succeed, and depends on evidence the deceased is no longer able to give. It is a safety net with large holes in it, not a plan.

Cohabiting couples’ inheritance rights and inheritance tax

Transfers between married couples and civil partners are exempt from inheritance tax, however large the estate. There is no equivalent exemption for cohabiting partners. Leaving assets to an unmarried partner is treated the same way as leaving them to any other individual, meaning inheritance tax can apply in exactly the circumstances where a spouse would have paid nothing.

Cohabitation law reform in 2026: a change may be coming, but not yet

On 5 June 2026, the Ministry of Justice opened a public consultation, ‘A fairer end to relationships’, which runs until 14 August 2026. Alongside proposals on divorce, it specifically considers reforming the intestacy rules so that qualifying cohabitants – provisionally, those who have lived together for at least three years, or who have a child together, in a committed relationship – could gain a form of automatic inheritance right if their partner dies without a will.

A few things are worth being clear about while this is live:

• It is a consultation, not a change in the law. The government will consider responses before deciding whether, and how, to legislate. Any resulting Act of Parliament would take further time to pass.
• The proposed framework is described as deliberately more limited than the position for married couples, not a straightforward extension of spousal rights.
• Even once in force, any new rules will almost certainly come with qualifying conditions attached – a minimum period of cohabitation, evidence of a shared committed life, and so on – which means not every cohabiting relationship would be covered, and disputes about whether someone qualifies are a realistic prospect. The consultation also proposes new financial rights for cohabitants on separation, not just on death. That side of the proposals is a family law question rather than a wills and probate one – our colleagues in the family law team cover what it could mean if your relationship ends rather than if your partner dies.

What to do now, regardless of how the consultation ends

Whatever emerges from the consultation, it will not help anyone who dies before it becomes law, and it may not cover every relationship even once it does. The practical position for cohabiting couples today is unchanged:

• Make a will. This is the only way to ensure your partner is provided for. It also lets you decide exactly what they receive, rather than waiting to see whether a future qualifying test would apply to your relationship.
• Consider a declaration of trust if you own property together, particularly if you have contributed unequally to the purchase or the mortgage. This sets out clearly who owns what share, which avoids exactly the kind of dispute the intestacy rules would otherwise leave to a court.
• Check beneficiary nominations on pensions and life insurance policies. These often pass outside your will and outside intestacy, so they need to be kept up to date in their own right.
• Review your will whenever your relationship changes. Moving in together, having children, or buying a property jointly are all good prompts to check your existing arrangements still reflect what you want.

None of this requires waiting for Parliament. If you are living with a partner and have not yet made a will, that is the single step most likely to matter.

If you would like to talk through your options, contact our wills team, who can explain what a will would mean for your particular circumstances, including how it interacts with any property you own together.

This article is for general information only and reflects the position as understood in July 2026. It does not constitute legal advice. The consultation discussed above is ongoing and its outcome is not yet known – see the Ministry of Justice consultation page for the latest position.

Emma Howlett