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Cohabiting Couples

There is no such thing as common law marriage in England and Wales. Living together for twenty years, having children together and calling each other partners creates no right to the other person's property, income or pension when the relationship ends, and no automatic right to inherit if they die. It is the single most damaging legal myth in the UK, and people usually discover it at the worst possible moment. Call 07476 557650 free, any hour — and a one-hour consultation with a UK solicitor (£145, a fixed fee) can be booked right on the call.

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Cohabiting Couples at a glance

No common law marriage

In England and Wales, length of cohabitation gives you no automatic rights against your partner

The house follows ownership

Whose name is on the title, and what was agreed or contributed, decides it — not fairness

Children are different

Child maintenance and child arrangements apply the same whether or not you were married

No automatic inheritance

An unmarried partner does not inherit under the intestacy rules — a will is essential

Scotland differs

Scots law gives cohabitants limited financial claims, with a short deadline to bring them

The house is the whole fight

If you are joint legal owners, you both own it, and how you own it — joint tenants or tenants in common in stated shares — decides what happens. If the property is in one name only, the other person starts with nothing and must establish a beneficial interest: that there was a common intention you would share it and that they acted to their detriment in reliance on it, or that contributions justify a share. These claims run under trusts law rather than family law, they are evidence-heavy, and they are expensive to run. Paying rent, buying groceries or decorating is generally not enough; paying part of the deposit or the mortgage, or funding an extension, might be. Talk it through with a lawyer now →

What actually protects you

Three documents, none of them expensive. A declaration of trust records who owns what share of a property and settles in advance the argument that otherwise costs tens of thousands later. A cohabitation agreement records what you both intend about finances, the home and what happens if you separate. And a will is essential, because an unmarried partner inherits nothing automatically no matter how long you were together — the estate passes under the intestacy rules to blood relatives, and your partner is left bringing a claim against your own family. Also check pension death benefit nominations, which many people never update. Talk it through with a lawyer now →

Scotland gives cohabitants more — briefly

Scots law recognises cohabitants in a way England and Wales does not. Under the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 a former cohabitant can apply to the court for a financial payment where they have been economically disadvantaged by the relationship or the other has been advantaged, and a surviving cohabitant can apply where their partner died without a will. These are real rights, but they are limited and they are time-barred sharply — the deadline after separation is short, and shorter still after a death. Anyone in that position in Scotland should take advice quickly rather than assume there is time. Talk it through with a lawyer now →

Protecting yourself as an unmarried couple

Find out how the home is actually ownedGet the title from the Land Registry. Assumptions about ownership are frequently wrong.

Put the intention in writing while you agreeA declaration of trust or cohabitation agreement costs a fraction of the dispute it prevents.

Make a will and update your nominationsWithout one your partner may inherit nothing at all. Call 07476 557650 free, any hour — and a one-hour consultation with a UK solicitor (£145, a fixed fee) can be booked right on the call.

Cohabiting Couples — your questions answered

We have lived together for 15 years. Am I a common law wife?

No. There is no common law marriage in England and Wales, and there is no period of cohabitation that creates one. Fifteen years gives you no claim on your partner's salary, savings or pension, and no automatic right to stay in a home owned in their sole name. What you may have is a beneficial interest in property, if you contributed or there was a shared intention you would share it — which is a legal argument to be made and proved, not a status you already hold.

My partner died without a will. Do I get anything?

Not automatically under the intestacy rules in England and Wales — those pass the estate to spouses, children and blood relatives, and an unmarried partner is not on the list. You may be able to bring a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 if you lived together as partners for at least two years before the death or were being maintained by them, but there is a strict six-month deadline from the grant. Take advice immediately rather than after the estate is distributed.

Do I have to pay child maintenance if we were never married?

Yes. Marriage is irrelevant to child maintenance and to child arrangements — both parents have the same obligations to a child regardless of whether they were ever married. What marriage changes is the claims between the adults, not the duties to the children.