Key Takeaways
- Cohabiting partners in England and Wales have no automatic right to inherit if their partner dies without a will, however long they lived together.
- More than 3.5 million couples live together without marrying or forming a civil partnership, yet government figures suggest almost half of people believe in a “common law marriage” that doesn’t exist.
- The Ministry of Justice’s consultation, A fairer end to relationships, proposed giving qualifying cohabitants automatic inheritance rights where a partner dies without a will. It closed on 14th August 2026.
- The proposals aren’t law yet. The government is analysing responses, and any legislation will follow only when parliamentary time allows.
After enough years or once they have children, lots of couples who live together assume that the law treats them much like a married couple. When one partner dies without a will, the surviving partner often discovers otherwise at the worst possible moment, while grieving and sometimes facing the loss of their home.
That gap has been criticised for decades, and in June 2026 the government finally set out proposals to close part of it. Its consultation on cohabitation reform includes plans to give qualifying cohabitants automatic inheritance rights on intestacy (the legal state of dying without a valid will), alongside a new framework for couples who separate.
This article examines the current law, the scale of the issue, what the proposals would change and what remains uncertain. Osbourne Pinner offers a free 30-minute consultation with its family law solicitors for cohabiting couples who want to understand their position on separation.
The current law: no automatic right to inherit
Where a person dies without a valid will, their estate passes under the intestacy rules in the Administration of Estates Act 1925. Those rules follow a fixed order, with priority given to a surviving spouse or civil partner, followed by children and other relatives. Cohabitants aren’t included at all. The length of the relationship and the presence of shared children make no difference.
A surviving partner’s main route is a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. To qualify as a cohabitant, they must usually have lived with the deceased as a couple for at least two continuous years immediately before the death. Even then, cohabitants can claim only what they need for their maintenance. Also, a narrower standard than applies to spouses and civil partners, and the claim involves court proceedings at a time of bereavement.
Some assets pass outside the intestacy rules:
- A home owned as joint tenants passes automatically to the survivor
- Pension and life insurance benefits often follow the nomination the deceased made
- Cohabitants don’t benefit from the inheritance tax exemption that applies between spouses and civil partners
The scale of the issue
The government’s own figures show how many people the current law affects. According to the consultation document, more than 3.5 million couples live together without marrying or entering a civil partnership. That’s more than double the number 30 years ago. Over half of babies born in 2022 were born to unmarried parents, and one in four families is projected to be cohabiting by 2031.
Awareness lags far behind. The same document reports that almost half of people in England and Wales, 47%, believe common law marriage exists. But it doesn’t. That misunderstanding means many cohabitants make no will and no other arrangements, in the mistaken belief that the law will protect their partner.
What the consultation proposed
The Ministry of Justice published A fairer end to relationships on 5th June 2026. It covers three connected areas:
- Financial remedies on divorce
- A new framework for cohabitants who separate
- Reform of the law for cohabitants on death
On inheritance, the core proposal is to extend intestacy rights to qualifying cohabitants, so that they would inherit automatically where their partner dies without a valid will. Eligibility would depend on meeting a clear definition of a cohabitant and a minimum period of living together. The government also proposed giving qualifying cohabitants the right to administer their partner’s estate in line with any new entitlement, and sought views on removing the two-year qualifying period for claims under the 1975 Act where the couple had children together.
For couples who separate, the proposed framework would apply to those who have lived together for at least three years (or who live together and share a child) with an option to opt out. It would be deliberately narrower than the law on divorce, starting from what each person legally owns and departing from that only to meet defined needs.
What could change in practice
The most direct effect would be on bereaved partners in straightforward cases. If a couple had lived together for many years and one died without a will, the survivor could receive a share of the estate automatically, rather than having to bring a court claim limited to maintenance.
Harder questions remain for blended families though. The consultation acknowledges that any reform must balance a surviving partner’s interests against those of other beneficiaries, principally adult children from earlier relationships. It also stresses that the new rights would remain distinct from, and less extensive than, those that come with marriage.
A long road to reform
The proposals aren’t new in principle. The Law Commission recommended a scheme for cohabitants on separation in 2007 and, in a separate 2011 report, recommended that some cohabitants should be able to inherit under the intestacy rules without going to court. Neither was implemented. The 2024 Labour manifesto committed to strengthening the rights and protections of women in cohabiting couples, and this consultation is the first concrete step towards delivering that pledge.
Other common law jurisdictions already recognise cohabitants in their intestacy rules, and the consultation draws on that experience. They include New Zealand, parts of Australia and parts of Canada.
What happens next
The consultation closed on 14th August 2026 and the government is now analysing responses. It has said that legislation will be introduced when parliamentary time allows, but it hasn’t given a timetable. The detail of any final scheme, including the exact eligibility period for inheritance rights and how transitional arrangements would work, isn’t known yet.
Until any new law is passed and brought into force, the current rules apply in full. A cohabitant whose partner dies without a will today has no automatic entitlement, whatever the proposals say.
Where this leaves cohabiting couples now
Under the current law, the protections available to cohabiting couples depend almost entirely on planning. The main safeguards are:
- A valid will
- The way a shared home is owned
- Up-to-date nominations on pensions and life insurance
- A cohabitation agreement and a declaration of trust recording each person’s share of the home, for couples who want certainty on separation
The same consultation also proposes changing how finances are divided on divorce. If you’d like to learn more about this, our complete guide to divorce financial settlements explains the current law for married couples, against which any new cohabitation framework would be measured.
Speaking to a solicitor about cohabitation rights
The gap between what cohabiting couples believe and what the law provides can have serious consequences on separation as well as on death. Understanding the current position is the first step, whatever reform eventually brings.
Osbourne Pinner’s family law solicitors advise cohabiting couples on separation, disputes over a shared home and cohabitation agreements, and will follow the progress of these reforms closely. The firm’s analysis of official family court data is published on its divorce statistics page.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should speak to a qualified solicitor for advice on their own circumstances.
Osbourne Pinner offers a free 30-minute consultation, Monday to Friday, by video call or at its offices in Piccadilly Circus, Canary Wharf, Wimbledon, Harrow or Manchester. To arrange a consultation, call 0203 983 5080, email [email protected] or complete the form below. The firm does not offer Legal Aid.
