Guide · rules for England and Wales, checked 2 October 2026
Unmarried partners: what happens to the house
However long you have lived together, the law in England and Wales treats an unmarried partner very differently from a husband, wife or civil partner. Without a will, a partner inherits nothing. With a will, they can still face inheritance tax a spouse would never pay. Here is how it works, and what couples can do about it.
Run the free check for your house: it asks how you own the home and whether you are married, and shows where the gaps are.
There is no “common law marriage”
Many people believe a couple become “common law” husband and wife after some years together. In England and Wales the phrase has no legal meaning. Living together for 30 years gives a partner no automatic right to inherit anything.
If there is no will, the partner gets nothing
When someone dies without a will, the intestacy rules decide who inherits. Those rules include a husband, wife or civil partner, but not an unmarried partner. If there is no spouse, everything goes in this order, and the first group with anyone living takes it all:
- Children (or the children of a child who has died)
- Parents
- Brothers and sisters (or their children)
- Half-brothers and half-sisters (or their children)
- Grandparents
- Uncles and aunts (or their children), then half-uncles and half-aunts
- The Crown, if there is nobody at all
Apart from pension or life insurance money that names them, the only things a partner receives automatically are things the couple owned jointly, such as a joint bank account, which passes to the survivor.
The house: it depends how it is owned
The title register at HM Land Registry (£7 to download) shows whose names are on the house and, for two owners, how they own it.
| How the house is owned | What happens when one partner dies |
|---|---|
| Joint tenants (two names, no restriction on the register) | The whole house passes to the survivor automatically, by “survivorship”. A will cannot change this. The dead partner’s half still counts for inheritance tax. |
| Tenants in common (two names, with a restriction in the B section saying “no disposition by a sole proprietor…”) | Each owns a separate share. The dead partner’s share passes under their will or, with no will, under the intestacy rules: to their children or family, not the partner. The survivor could end up sharing the house with them. |
| Sole name | The partner has no automatic right to the house or to stay in it. Without a will leaving it to them, it goes to the family on the list above, who can ask the partner to leave. A partner who paid towards it may have a claim to a share, but that means going to court. |
A court claim is a last resort, not a plan
The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 lets some people ask a court for “reasonable financial provision” from an estate. A partner can claim if they lived with the deceased in the same household, as if they were married, for the whole of the two years before the death. Someone the deceased was supporting financially can also claim.
- The time limit is six months from the date of the grant of probate or letters of administration. A claim can be made before then. After it, the court has to agree to hear it late.
- What a partner can get is limited to what is reasonable for their maintenance: day-to-day needs, and perhaps a home. A husband or wife can be given more than that.
- The cost is the problem. Claims are slow, expensive and uncertain, and set the partner against the family.
Inheritance tax: no spouse exemption
Anything left to a husband, wife or civil partner is free of inheritance tax. Anything left to an unmarried partner is not. The usual rules apply:
- Everyone has a nil-rate band of £325,000. Above it the rate is 40%.
- The residence nil-rate band of £175,000 only applies when the home goes to direct descendants: children, grandchildren, stepchildren and their children, and some foster and adopted children. A partner is not a direct descendant, so a home left to a partner gets no residence band.
- Your partner’s own children only count as your stepchildren if you are married to, or in a civil partnership with, their parent. For an unmarried couple, a home left to the partner’s children does not get the residence band either.
- Married couples and civil partners can pass any unused band to the survivor. Unmarried partners cannot.
See inheritance tax on pensions from April 2027 for the bands in full, or use the inheritance tax calculator with your own figures.
A worked example
Pete and Lynn have lived together for 25 years and never married. The house is worth £450,000 and is in Pete’s name alone. Pete also has £150,000 in savings. He has two grown-up children from his first marriage. Pete dies in 2026. Before debts and funeral costs.
1. Pete has no will
Lynn inherits nothing. The house and savings go to Pete’s two children. The house is going to his children, so the residence band applies.
| Estate (house £450,000 + savings £150,000) | £600,000 |
| Nil-rate band + residence nil-rate band | £325,000 + £175,000 = £500,000 |
| Above the bands | £100,000 |
| Inheritance tax at 40% | £40,000 |
| What Lynn receives | Nothing. She can be asked to leave the house, and her only route is a court claim |
2. Pete leaves everything to Lynn in a will
Lynn is not his wife, so there is no exemption. She is not a direct descendant, so there is no residence band.
| Estate | £600,000 |
| Nil-rate band only | £325,000 |
| Above the band | £600,000 − £325,000 = £275,000 |
| Inheritance tax at 40% | £110,000 (£275,000 × 0.4) |
| What Lynn receives | £490,000. She may have to sell the house, or use most of the savings, to pay the tax. |
Had they been married, the same will would mean £0 inheritance tax, and Lynn would keep Pete’s unused bands for her own estate later. From 6 April 2027, most pension money Pete had not used would be added to the £600,000 too.
Pensions, bank accounts and life insurance
- Pensions do not follow the will. Most schemes ask you to fill in an “expression of wish” (or nomination) form saying who should receive the money. The trustees make the final decision, but the form tells them what you want. Check the partner is named on every pension. From 6 April 2027 most unused pension money counts for inheritance tax, and the spouse exemption still does not cover a partner.
- Joint bank accounts pass to the survivor automatically, which keeps money available for bills. The dead partner’s share still counts in the estate for tax: usually half, but for an unmarried couple it can depend on who paid the money in.
- Life insurance can be “written in trust”, a short form from the insurer. The payout then goes to the people named, usually without waiting for probate, and does not count as part of the estate. It is a common way for unmarried couples to cover a tax bill.
If one of you loses capacity
A partner has no automatic right to run your bank account or make decisions about your care if you cannot. Without a lasting power of attorney they would have to apply to the Court of Protection to deal with your money, which is slow and costly, and decisions about your care would be made by doctors and social workers, who must consult them but have the final say. See lasting power of attorney, done right first time.
What couples can do
- Both make a will. It is the only way a partner inherits for certain. A will can also leave the home in trust, so the partner lives there for life and it then passes to children. See should the house go into a trust?
- Check how the house is owned. Download the title register and make sure the ownership matches what you both want.
- Update every pension nomination, and consider writing life insurance in trust.
- Make both lasting powers of attorney, each naming the other if that is what you want.
- Know the effect of marriage or civil partnership. Either one brings the spouse exemption, the transfer of unused bands and rights under the intestacy rules. It also cancels any existing will, unless the will was made with that marriage in mind, so new wills are needed. Whether to marry is a personal decision, and many couples choose not to.
Where there are children from earlier relationships, a business, or a large estate, take advice from a solicitor. The House Plan sets out your choices first, so the appointment is shorter.
Will the law change?
The Law Commission recommended rights for cohabiting couples when they separate (2007) and when one dies without a will (2011). Neither was made law. On 5 June 2026 the government opened a consultation, “A fairer end to relationships”, which asked, among other things, whether cohabitants who qualify should be able to inherit when a partner dies without a will. It closed on 14 August 2026. No new law has been passed, and nothing has changed yet. Plan on the rules as they are today.