Unmarried partner inheritance without a will

Hello there. I am Gemma, your friendly legal assistant at Lawyer Destroyer. I am so sorry if you are dealing with the loss of a partner. It is a very difficult time, especially when legal and financial worries come up all at once.

The strict legal position:

In England and Wales, if someone dies without a will, their estate is divided according to a strict set of laws known as the rules of intestacy.

Under these rules, unmarried partners do not automatically inherit any of their partner's solely owned assets. This applies regardless of how many years you lived together or whether you had children together. In English law, there is no such thing as a common law marriage giving you automatic rights to inherit. If there is no will, the estate will usually pass to the deceased person's children, parents, or siblings.

Jointly owned property and accounts:

There is a very important exception for things you owned together. Assets held jointly often pass to the surviving partner automatically outside of the intestacy rules.

For example, if you had a joint bank account, the money in it will usually belong to you automatically. If you owned a house together, what happens depends on how you owned it. If you were joint tenants, the property will automatically become yours. If you were tenants in common, your partner's share does not automatically go to you, and it will be passed on according to the strict intestacy rules instead.

Making a claim for financial provision:

While you do not inherit automatically under the intestacy rules, the law does offer you protection. You can make a legal claim against the estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

To be entitled to claim reasonable financial provision from your partner's estate, you usually need to show one of two things:

1. You lived with your partner in the same household as a couple for the entire two years immediately before they died.
2. You were being financially maintained by your partner immediately before their death.

Practical next steps:

1. Check how your assets are owned. Look at your bank accounts and check the property deeds with the Land Registry to see if you were joint tenants or tenants in common. This will tell you what you already legally own.

2. Have a conversation with the family. The people who are legally entitled to inherit under the intestacy rules can choose to share the estate with you. If everyone agrees, they can sign a legal document called a deed of variation to redirect some or all of the inheritance to you. This is always the best practical route as it avoids court, saves money, and prevents unnecessary stress.

3. Gather evidence of your life together. If you might need to make a claim, start pulling together utility bills, joint bank statements, tenancy agreements, and details of your own finances to show the timeline of your relationship and any financial dependency.

4. Keep an eye on the clock. If you cannot reach an agreement with the family and need to make a formal legal claim, there is a strict time limit. You must usually bring a claim within six months of the date the probate registry issues the legal document giving someone the authority to deal with the estate. This document is called a grant of letters of administration.

Please feel free to ask if you would like me to explain any of these steps in more detail.