Unmarried Couples: Money Rights When You Split or Die

Living together is one of the most common ways couples now organise their lives, but the law in the UK treats an unmarried couple very differently from a married one. If you live with someone but are not married or in a civil partnership, you have fewer rights, and the length of the relationship makes no difference¹. There is a widespread belief that after a certain number of years a couple becomes a "common law" marriage, but this does not exist in the UK¹.

The practical consequences are wide reaching. Unmarried partners do not automatically have rights to each other's money or property if they split up or one of them dies, regardless of how long they have lived together². In England and Wales there is no automatic right to inherit under the intestacy rules without a will². Tax allowances that married couples share, such as Marriage Allowance, are not available³. And rights to stay in the home after a separation depend on ownership and tenancy, not on the relationship itself⁴.

That does not mean unmarried couples are powerless. Wills, joint ownership, pension nominations, cohabitation agreements and life insurance can each fill a gap the law leaves open. This page explains where the gaps are, how they differ across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and what steps protect each partner. It sits alongside the wider guide to money through life's big changes, and the pages on separation and what to do when someone dies.

Unmarried couples have fewer rights than married couples

The starting point is simple and, for many people, surprising: living together, even for decades, creates none of the legal rights that marriage or civil partnership does. Independent Age puts it plainly: if you are living with someone but not married or in a civil partnership, you will have fewer rights¹. Which? reports the same from the other direction, noting that you do not automatically have rights to your partner's money or property if you split up or they die, regardless of how long you have been together².

The differences show up most sharply around the home. A married person or civil partner who is not the owner or tenant still has "home rights": they can pay the rent or mortgage and, in Wales, can stay in the property even after it is sold if their home rights are registered⁷. An unmarried partner has no equivalent right to pay the rent or mortgage if they are neither an owner nor a contract holder⁷. If the partner who is the sole tenant leaves or ends the tenancy, that usually ends the contract and the remaining partner has no rights to stay⁷. In Scotland, Shelter advises that an unmarried partner of a tenant usually will not have rights to stay in the home unless they apply for a court order⁴.

Inheritance is the other flashpoint. In England and Wales, an unmarried partner has no automatic right to inherit under the intestacy rules, so the surviving partner can receive nothing while distant relatives inherit². Scotland is different in detail but similar in effect: there are no automatic inheritance rights for unmarried cohabiting partners, though a survivor may apply to court for a share of the estate⁸. Reform has been discussed for years. The Law Commission proposed giving cohabiting couples intestacy rights similar to married couples⁹, and a Commons briefing records the Government's response to a 2022 Women and Equalities Committee recommendation: it wanted to complete its work on marriage and divorce law first, to create a baseline of rights¹⁰. Nothing has yet changed, so unmarried couples must arrange their own protection.

Joint bank accounts: either of you can take the money

A joint account is the most common financial link between unmarried partners, and its rules cut both ways. A joint account normally allows two or more people to receive payments, pay by debit card, transfer money and manage the account, depending on the bank¹¹. Each account holder can withdraw money without asking the other person⁶, and everyone named on the account is equally responsible, so the bank could ask you to repay overdraft borrowing run up by another holder¹¹. nidirect states the position bluntly: you are each liable for the other's debts⁶.

That makes a joint account a trust decision as much as a convenience. MoneyHelper advises only opening one with someone you trust, because the other person's poor credit history can damage your credit score and you can become responsible for debts they run up¹². A basic bank account can also be opened jointly if you both qualify¹³. Interest earned in a joint account is usually split equally between the holders for tax purposes, with tax due only if a person's share exceeds their annual allowance¹¹.

If the relationship breaks down, there are practical steps:

1. Ask the bank to register a dispute and "cancel the mandate", which freezes the account until all holders agree how to split the money¹¹.
2. Close the account, which can be done at any time, though any overdraft must be repaid first. Some banks need permission from all holders, others let one person close it unless a dispute is registered¹¹.
3. Ask credit reference agencies for a "notice of disassociation" if you have no other financial connection, because closing the account will not remove the link to the other person from your credit file¹¹.

One further risk is worth knowing in advance: if a partner loses mental capacity, the joint account could be frozen unless there is a power of attorney in place, and the bank might freeze it completely or allow only essential payments¹¹. The page on losing mental capacity without a power of attorney covers what happens then.

Splitting up: no automatic share of pensions or other assets

When a marriage ends, the courts can divide pensions, property and savings between the spouses. When an unmarried relationship ends, they cannot. There is no automatic claim on a partner's pension, savings or possessions, however long the relationship lasted and however much one partner gave up, for example by working part time to raise children². The only automatic entitlements are child maintenance, dealt with on our child maintenance page, and a share of anything you jointly own.

Pensions are the gap people notice least and feel hardest. Research by the Money and Pensions Service found that only 44% of men and 41% of women are aware that a pension forms part of a divorce settlement¹⁴, and unmarried couples have even less awareness because the rules give them nothing to be aware of. Pension sharing exists only within divorce. A cohabiting partner who wants protection needs it written into a cohabitation agreement, or a pension that pays survivor benefits on death.

A few specific rules are worth knowing:

• Transferring policies between partners. The transfer of ownership of a life insurance policy between spouses or civil partners living together does not give rise to a chargeable gain, but the same transfer between unmarried partners can do¹⁵. Similarly, gifts of personal possessions are free of capital gains tax between a husband, wife or civil partner, but not between unmarried partners¹⁶.
• Pension transfers. If you later want to transfer a pension, you might not be able to if you hold a share of an ex-partner's pension following a divorce, or a scheme with special features or guarantees like a Guaranteed Minimum Pension¹⁷.
• Survivors' pensions. Some schemes pay unmarried partners. A War Widow's or Widower's Pension may be payable if you lived with a partner as husband and wife or as civil partners¹⁸. Conversely, some widows' and widowers' pensions are affected by later cohabiting: NHS pension guidance in Scotland asks recipients to make contact if they intend to remarry or cohabit, as this may affect entitlement¹⁹.

The practical message is that each unmarried partner's financial security on separation rests on what is in their own name, what is jointly owned, and what the couple has agreed in writing. The page on untangling joint accounts, mortgages and debts covers the mechanics of separating shared finances.

Cohabitation agreements and planning ahead

Because the law gives unmarried couples so little, couples who want protection have to create it themselves. The main tools are a will, a cohabitation agreement, and careful attention to how property and accounts are held.

A cohabitation agreement is a written document in which a couple sets out who owns what, how shared expenses are paid, and what happens to property, savings and pensions if the relationship ends or one partner dies. It can cover the house, the contents, joint accounts, debts and support payments. Because it is a contract between the two of you, it can fill gaps the law leaves open, including what would otherwise be a pension claim. It works alongside a will: an agreement about death needs the will to actually pass the assets, and our page on making a will explains the options and costs.

Housing rights can also be strengthened in advance. In Wales, a cohabitee whose partner is solely responsible for the rent or mortgage may be able to establish the right to make those payments if they want to stay in the home, whereas a married partner has that right automatically⁷. An unmarried partner can apply for an occupation order, which gives home rights for as long as the order lasts²⁰. In Scotland, the law gives some former cohabitants a place in the system: a person who lived with the proprietor in a cohabiting relationship, for the six months before the property stopped being their main home, may qualify as an "entitled resident" where the home is the main residence of a child under 16 who is a child of both of them²¹.

Reform may eventually change this landscape. The Government has said it wants to complete its work on marriage and divorce law before addressing cohabiting couples' rights¹⁰, and Which? has reported on proposals that would give cohabiting couples intestacy rights similar to married couples⁹. Until any reform arrives, the position is as described on this page, and couples who want different arrangements need them in writing.

Borrowing together: treated like a married couple

While the law gives unmarried couples fewer rights, it treats them as a couple when it comes to benefits and joint borrowing, which is not always to their advantage.

For benefits purposes, cohabiting partners count as a couple in the same way as spouses. Tax credit legislation defines a couple as a married or cohabiting man and woman in the same household, or two people of the same sex who are civil partners or living together as civil partners²². Universal credit regulations use the same approach: partners are people who are married or civil partners in the same household, or living together as if they were spouses or civil partners²³. Scottish family payments guidance asks for partner information where people live in the same household and are married, civil partners, or living together as if married²⁴.

The consequences are practical:

• Joint claims and joint assessment. A cohabiting couple usually claims benefits such as universal credit jointly, and both partners' income and savings are counted, so one partner's earnings can reduce or remove the other's entitlement.
• Joint debts. On a joint account, each holder is liable for the other's debts⁶, and a joint mortgage or loan makes each partner responsible for the whole amount, not half of it.
• Debt solutions. Scottish legislation has been extended so that the circumstances in which a payment break is allowed on a joint debt payment programme now cover cohabitees separating²⁵.

One area where the treatment differs is housing. A married or civil partnered person who is not the contract holder has home rights and a right to pay the rent or mortgage²⁰. An unmarried partner has no such automatic right⁷, which matters if the tenancy or mortgage is in one name only and that person leaves, dies or stops paying. Shelter Scotland notes that a married partner's rights apply to most types of tenancy, as long as the landlord knows the partner lives there⁴.

When a partner dies: what happens to a joint account

Death changes a joint account immediately, and the rules differ depending on where you live and whether the holders were married.

The general rule across the UK is that if an account holder passes away, the joint account continues in the remaining names¹¹. NS&I states the same for its own accounts: on the death of one joint holder, the surviving holder gets ownership of the account²⁶. All of the partner's other accounts, except joint accounts, will be frozen after they die²⁷.

Scotland adds complications that surviving partners there should know about. The executor must establish how much of the joint account belonged to the person who died, so the estate can be valued for inheritance tax⁸. For spouses and civil partners who both contributed, the money is presumed to be held equally, so half the balance on the date of death is presumed to belong to the deceased⁸. If only one person contributed, the balance is presumed to belong to that person, even if the account was joint⁸. A surviving holder might have to prove they paid in all the money for the account to be excluded from the deceased's estate⁸. If there are more than two surviving holders, the bank will ask them for a new mandate authorising future transactions⁸.

An overdrawn joint account is the hardest case. In Scotland, the bank will stop transactions on the joint account if the balance is overdrawn, and part of this debt becomes a claim on the estate⁸. Because each holder is liable for the other's debts⁶, the survivor can also be pursued for the overdraft, and any overdraft must be repaid before the account can be closed¹¹.

Tax is the other difference. Unless you were married or in a civil partnership, you might have to pay tax on some or all of the money in the account¹¹. NS&I's Direct Saver terms show how the estate side works: when the last surviving account holder of a joint account dies, no more deposits can be accepted, the balance becomes part of the estate, and the account continues to earn interest²⁸. The pages on debts after death and what to do when someone dies cover the wider process.

Tax: no sharing of allowances or unused nil-rate bands

Married couples and civil partners get a set of tax advantages that unmarried couples do not, and the differences compound over a lifetime.

Income tax. Marriage Allowance lets one partner transfer a slice of their personal allowance to the other, but you cannot claim it if you are living together without being married or in a civil partnership³.

Inheritance tax. An estate is exempt from inheritance tax to the extent it is left to a spouse or civil partner, a charity or a community amateur sports club²⁹. There is no equivalent exemption for an unmarried partner: everything left to them counts towards the nil-rate band. Where a spouse or civil partner has died, any unused threshold from their estate can be added to the survivor's threshold⁸, and low value estates can be twice the nil rate band where there is a valid claim to transfer the unused nil rate band from a predeceased spouse or civil partner³⁰. An unmarried survivor inherits none of this. When valuing jointly owned house or land, no discount may be applied if the other joint owner is the deceased's spouse or civil partner, a rule that assumes the survivor's half passes tax free, which does not apply to an unmarried co-owner³¹.

Pensions and life insurance. Following recent changes, survivor's rights paid from a joint life annuity are not part of the member's estate and are not in scope of inheritance tax, which can help unmarried partners and children as survivors³³. But transfers of policies between unmarried partners do not get the spouse exemption from chargeable event gains¹⁵, and gifts of possessions between unmarried partners can trigger capital gains tax where gifts between spouses do not¹⁶.

Property transactions. Unmarried couples buying together also face tax differences when they separate. A transfer between spouses or civil partners living together does not give rise to a gain on a life insurance policy¹⁵, whereas an unmarried partner buying out the other, or being bought out, may face capital gains tax on their share, subject to the rules on private residence relief. In Scotland, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax on non-residential conveyances starts at 0% up to £150,000⁵, and a Stamp Duty Land Tax return is not needed where no money or other payment was made³⁴, which can be relevant when a home is transferred as part of a separation.

The overall picture is that an unmarried couple can each have full individual allowances but cannot pool, transfer or inherit each other's tax advantages. Our personal tax section covers the underlying rules.

Bereavement benefits for unmarried partners with children

For many years, bereavement benefits were paid only to people who had been married to their partner³⁵. That changed for parents. The law now entitles a person to Bereavement Support Payment where their spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner dies, provided the survivor is under pensionable age, is ordinarily resident in Great Britain or a specified territory, and meets the contribution condition³⁶. In the case of a cohabiting partner, the survivor must be pregnant or entitled to child benefit in specified circumstances³⁶. Turn2us puts it simply: the law has changed and surviving cohabiting partners with children can get it now⁵.

The conditions matter:

• Date of death. You may be able to get Bereavement Support Payment if your husband, wife, civil partner or cohabiting partner died on or after 6 April 2017⁵.
• Living together. You cannot get it if you were no longer living with your partner, or were living with someone else, when your partner died⁵.
• Children. Cohabiting survivors without children are not eligible; the entitlement for cohabiting partners depends on pregnancy or child benefit³⁶.
• Remarriage. Unlike the previous bereavement benefits, remarriage or re-partnering will not disqualify a person from Bereavement Support Payment³⁷.

The Government has published statistics estimating the cost of extending Bereavement Support Payment to cohabiting survivors, both with and without children, and the numbers affected³⁸, which shows the scale of the change. Two related points complete the picture. Where the deceased was married to one person but cohabiting with another, the award for bereavement damages under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 would be split equally between the two qualifying parties³⁹. And for service families, where there is no eligible partner, the Bereavement Grant is divided between all eligible children⁴⁰.

Claiming is straightforward: you can apply online, by telephone or by post, and you will need your National Insurance number, your bank or building society account details, the date your spouse or civil partner died, and your partner's National Insurance number⁴¹. Our page on what happens to benefits when someone dies covers the wider picture.

Where to get help if you separate or are bereaved

Because unmarried couples' rights depend on documents, ownership and court applications rather than automatic rules, good advice matters more for them than for married couples.

If you are separating:

• Citizens Advice Scotland publishes guidance on dealing with an estate and on family matters, and Citizens Advice operates across England, Wales and Northern Ireland⁸.
• Shelter and Shelter Cymru advise on housing rights when an unmarried relationship breaks down, including rights to stay in the home and how to establish payments of rent or mortgage⁷.
• MoneyHelper, the free government-backed service, explains joint accounts, disputes and how to close them¹¹.
• A family law solicitor can advise on a cohabitation agreement before problems arise, and on court applications afterwards. Our pages on separation, dividing money and property on divorce in Scotland and child maintenance cover the related processes.

If your partner has died:

• WAY (Widowed and Young) notes that if you were not married, things can be more complicated and it is worth consulting a legal expert to find out your rights²⁷.
• Turn2us runs a free benefits calculator and publishes guidance on Bereavement Support Payment eligibility⁵.
• MoneyHelper and the gov.uk pages explain how to claim Bereavement Support Payment⁴¹.
• Our pages on registering a death, probate, confirmation in Scotland, paying inheritance tax and free bereavement support set out the practical steps.

The single most useful habit for an unmarried couple is to put things in writing while the relationship is good: a will each, a cohabitation agreement, pension nominations checked with each scheme, and clarity about how the home is owned. Every protection described on this page is easier to arrange before it is needed than after.