By Sital Somaiya, Founder and Solicitor. Last reviewed 14 October 2026.
Very little, automatically.
That is not a scare tactic, and it is not a loophole waiting to be closed. It is the settled law of England and Wales, and it catches people out every week, including people who are careful, financially sensible and well informed about most things.
The Ministry of Justice estimates that more than 3.5 million couples in England and Wales live together without being married or in a civil partnership. That is around one in five couples who live together. A great many of them believe that after enough years, or once children arrive, the law quietly gives them something. It does not.
There is no such thing as common law marriage
This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in family law, so it comes first.
Common law marriage does not exist in England and Wales. It is not a status you acquire by living together for seven years, or ten, or thirty. It is not created by having children together, sharing a mortgage, being named on the utility bills or calling each other partners for a lifetime.
If you are not married and not in a civil partnership, then when the relationship ends the law treats you, financially, as two individuals who happened to share an address. That means:
- No automatic right to maintenance from your former partner, whatever the difference in your incomes.
- No right to a share of their pension, however long you were together.
- No automatic right to a share of the home unless you can show a legal or beneficial interest in it.
- No automatic right to inherit if your partner dies without a valid will. You can bring a claim against their estate in court, but it is a claim you have to make and win, not a right you start with.
Married couples and civil partners can claim all of these. You start with none of them.
What happens to the house
This is where most disputes land, and where the gap between marriage and cohabitation becomes concrete.
If you separate and cannot agree about the property, your claim is not decided by a family court weighing fairness and need. It is a property dispute under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996, usually shortened to TOLATA, decided on the principles of trust law. That is true whether or not you have children.
A TOLATA claim asks one question: who owns what? It does not ask who needs what.
So if the house is in your partner's sole name, you do not get a share because you lived there for twelve years, paid for the kitchen or took five years out of your career to look after your children. You get a share only if you can prove you acquired a beneficial interest in it, usually by showing direct financial contributions to the purchase, or a shared understanding about ownership that you relied on and can evidence.
Proving what two people understood about ownership a decade ago is difficult, slow and expensive. Both sides remember it differently, and the legal costs come out of the asset being argued over.
Our guide to TOLATA claims walks through the process step by step. If the home is in your partner's name and you contributed to it, His name is on the deeds. You paid for half of it. Now what? covers your position in more detail.
What about the children?
Children are treated separately, and better. Child maintenance is available through the Child Maintenance Service whether or not you were married. The court can also make orders for financial provision for the benefit of a child under Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989.
Note the wording: for the benefit of the child. That is not provision for you. A Schedule 1 order might secure a home for the children until they finish their education, after which the property usually goes back to the parent who provided it.
Where the children live and how much time they spend with each parent is a separate question again. Our child arrangements team can help with that, whatever your relationship status.
What did the Government propose?
The Ministry of Justice consultation A Fairer End to Relationships ran from 5 June to 14 August 2026. It has now closed and the Government is considering the responses.
In outline, it proposed a new statutory scheme allowing qualifying cohabitants to apply for a lump sum, a transfer of property or a pension share when they separate. Couples would qualify if they had lived together for at least three years, or had a child together. Cohabitants would also gain inheritance rights where a partner dies without a will. Our cohabitation law reform guide sets out the proposals in full.
Three things to understand about it.
It is not law. It is a Green Paper, a consultation document. No Bill has been introduced and the Government has not set a timetable. Most commentators do not expect any reform to take effect before 2028 at the earliest.
It is not equality with marriage. The Government has said the new remedies would be deliberately narrower than those available on divorce. The sharing principle that applies to married couples would not extend to cohabitants, needs would be assessed more tightly, and clean breaks would be the default.
There would be a deadline. As proposed, claims would have to be brought within two years of separation.
What this means for you, today
If you separate this year, next year, or at any point before new legislation comes into force, you will be dealt with under the law as it stands now. The consultation does not help you.
That leaves three practical steps, each far cheaper than a contested property dispute.
1. Find out how your home is actually owned. Not how you assume it is owned. Check whether you are on the title and, if you are, whether you hold it as joint tenants or tenants in common, and in what shares. It is a document check, and the answer is often not what people expect.
2. Put a cohabitation agreement in place. A written record of what you both intend: who owns what, who pays what, and what happens if you separate. It is the most useful thing an unmarried couple can do, and it removes the guesswork that makes TOLATA claims so expensive. Our cohabitation solicitors can draft one with you.
3. Make a will. Without one, your partner has no automatic right to inherit from you under the intestacy rules. They would have to bring a court claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, which is slower, more costly and less certain than simply being named in a will. See what happens without a will, or speak to our will writing team.
Frequently asked questions
Does living together for two years give us any rights?
No. Under the current law, no length of time living together creates financial rights between you. Under the Government's proposals, couples would need to have lived together for at least three years, or have a child together, to qualify, and those proposals are not yet law.
Can I claim part of my partner's pension if we split up?
Not under the current law. Pension sharing is only available on divorce or dissolution. The proposals would allow pension sharing orders for qualifying cohabitants, but only if they become law.
If my partner dies without a will, do I inherit anything?
Not automatically. You may be able to bring a claim against the estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, usually within six months of the grant of probate or letters of administration. Our guide to will disputes explains how these claims work.
Talk to us
Signature Law advises cohabiting couples in Romford, across Essex and in East London on cohabitation agreements, property disputes, children matters and wills. We can meet online or in person at our Romford office, and we advise in a number of languages, including Gujarati, Hindi and Urdu.
If you live together and have never taken advice on where you stand, that conversation is short, and far better had now than during a separation.
Request a callback, or call 01708 398 851.
