Make a will – even if you haven’t got very much to leave at the moment. Without a will your partner won’t automatically inherit anything from you. Instead, any property or things of value, known as ‘assets’, that you own will automatically pass to your closest blood relations and not your partner. This could include the home you share, leaving your partner in a risky situation.

‘Parental responsibility’ is the legal term for the right to have a say in how your child is brought up and your responsibilities for them as their parent. If you are an unmarried father you will only automatically have parental responsibility if you are named as the father on your child’s birth certificate. Take a look at our guide for more about what parental responsibility means and the different ways to get it.

Check your pension scheme - some don’t pay survivor’s benefits to unmarried partners.  For your partner to benefit from your pension when you die you will probably need to tell your pension company that this is what you want by formally naming them as a ‘nominated beneficiary’.

Think about how you can build up separate pensions for each of you. If you or your partner has given up work to look after the family or worked less while looking after the family, you need to think about how this will affect your pensions in the future and how you can make it fairer.

Unlike married couples, you won’t be entitled to a percentage of your partner’s state pension.

Living with your partner can affect your benefits. If you break up this will affect what you can claim too. It is important to get all the benefits the law says you are entitled to. But, you also need to be clear on what you can and cannot claim depending on who you are living with so that you don’t have to cope with a benefits sanction or overpayment. Make sure you know where you stand when it comes to living with someone and your benefits.

Disclaimer 

The law is complicated and does change. We have simplified things in this guide. Please don’t rely on this guide as a complete statement of the law. We recommend you try and get advice from the sources listed in our section called Legal advice and helplines.

Acknowledgments

This guide was first produced by Advicenow thanks to funding from the Help Accessing Legal Support grant (HALS). 

Our thanks to Victoria Rylatt of Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP for her advice and guidance on the most recent update of this guide.