Unmarried couples have fewer rights than married couples or civil partners. There's limited protection if a relationship breaks down.
Unmarried couples living together in England and Wales don't have the same legal rights as those who are married or in a civil partnership. In some cases, it may be possible to make a financial claim against an ex, even if you weren't married. This will depend on the circumstances.
Arguably the family home is one of the most valuable financial assets a couple has. For unmarried couples, each person's ability to make a financial claim on the home will depend on how they've contributed to it financially. This includes whether they are joint owners and how much each person contributed towards the purchase, mortgage or repair of the household.
A property may be held in the sole name of one partner or may be owned jointly between the couple.
If the couple are joint owners, then both people have equal rights to stay in the property. However, if one partner is the sole owner, the other may have no legal rights to remain in the home if they are asked to leave.
This can be affected if there are children living in the home, because their housing needs will need to continue being met. You can visit our unmarried couples and property rights page to find out more.
Living together as an unmarried couple doesn't entitle either partner to claim regular financial maintenance from the other partner in the same way that marriage does. This means that even if a couple have lived together for decades and one partner has been financially dependent on the other throughout this time, neither would be able to claim ongoing financial support from the other after separation.
The situation is different if there is a child and child maintenance is payable. If a couple has children, both parents have a legal duty to financially support their children. Whichever parent the child lives with after separation would be entitled to claim child maintenance payments from the other parent.
When considering whether you have a financial claim on your ex’s pension, this will entirely depend on the pension scheme. Some pension schemes cater more for unmarried couples, providing the opportunity for the pension scheme member to complete an ‘expression of wishes’ which will specify who benefits from their pension. However, unlike married couples, there is no automatic right to claim a share of your ex’s pension, and expression of wishes forms can be quickly changed.
And, finally, what about all the other assets you might have accumulated. For example, savings. Everything that is in your sole name, you keep; and everything that is in your ex’s sole name, they keep. And anything that you own together (for example, a joint bank account) is usually split 50:50.
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Married couples can take advantage of various tax exemptions and allowances. These are not available to unmarried couples so transferring assets between you and your partner needs to be thought through, ideally with the input from a tax advisor.
No. There is no such thing as a common law marriage. No matter how long you and your partner have been together, if you are not married you won’t have the same rights and responsibilities on relationship breakdown as your married friends.
What rights you have to stay in your home will depend on whether only one of you is the tenant or you share the tenancy. As a sole tenant you can ask your ex to leave unless a court grants rights for them to stay. When you share the tenancy, you have equal rights to stay in the home. If there has been violence, a court can exclude the abuser even if they are the sole tenant.
If you have children a court can grant rights for a parent who is not the tenant to stay, initially for six months.
If the mortgage is in joint names, both people are jointly and solely liable for the mortgage payments. This is known as joint and several liability. This means that if one of you leaves and stops contributing to the mortgage payments, the lender can ask the other person to pay the full amount.
If a mortgage is in one person's name, only that person is liable for the mortgage payments. If you're unmarried and your name isn't on the mortgage, the lender may try and repossess the property. You could offer to make the mortgage payments when your partner leaves and the lender may agree to accept them. However, it doesn't have to accept. If you are in this situation you should get specialist advice.
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