Cohabiting couples are at financial risk if they do not have a will, warns Royal London.
Cohabitees is the fast-growing family unit in the UK, yet 4.6 million adults living with a partner don’t have a will. However, by not understanding intestacy rules, nearly three quarters (73%) risk leaving partners nothing if they die.
According to research by the mutual life and pensions provider, 35% wrongly believe that they would be entitled to inherit a share or all of their partner’s financial assets just because they lived together. Only one in six (17%) of cohabitees know that if the partner who owned all the assets died, the cohabiting partner would receive nothing.
The findings show that nearly one in three (29%) don’t know what their rights would be if their partner were to pass away without leaving a will.
Royal London said many cohabiting couples wrongly assume they form a ‘common law marriage’ and often only discover on separation or death that the same legal rights don’t apply to marriage and cohabiting.
If a cohabitee dies without a will, their partner could lose the home they’ve lived in and paid towards.
Across the adult population of the UK, just under half (48%) have a will in place, but this falls to 36% among those together but not married. Nearly a third (29%) said they hadn’t got round to it yet, while 20% said they had nothing of value to pass on and 18% said they were too young to worry about it. However, 30% said they would be encouraged to take one out if they fell seriously unwell, and 26% said the same if they were to come into a significant amount of money.
Clare Moffat, pensions and legal expert at Royal London, said: “Having a will is really important for lots of different reasons. The fundamental reason for having a will is to make sure that you decide what happens on your death, not what the law stipulates should happen. It’s important not just for your financial arrangements, but also to choose who will look after any children if you die before they reach 18.
“It doesn’t matter how many years you’ve been living with your other half, cohabitees are not protected by the same laws as married couples and dividing the assets of a cohabiting couple can be complex.
“If you’re not married or in a civil partnership, and you die without writing a will, you’re not entitled to a penny unless you jointly own assets. If you have children together, everything goes to them and if you don’t have children, parents or siblings would stand to inherit assets, not the partner. No-one likes thinking about death but writing a will can make life much easier for anyone left behind.”
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