There is no such thing as common-law marriage in England and Wales. However long you live together, unmarried partners have no right to maintenance from each other, no automatic share of each other's property, and no inheritance without a will. Separation runs on property law, not family law. This guide explains what rights cohabitants actually have, how property disputes are decided, children's provision, and the reform now under consultation.
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The Common-Law Marriage Myth Has a Price
Millions of couples live together unmarried — the fastest-growing family form in the ONS families data — and a persistent share believe cohabitation eventually creates marriage-like rights. It does not, and the belief is most expensive at exactly the wrong moment: separation after years of contribution to a home in the other partner's name.
Separating cohabitants have no maintenance claims against each other and no automatic property share, whatever the relationship's length. Property follows legal and beneficial ownership under trusts law (TOLATA); children's support runs through the CMS and Schedule 1; everything else depends on what you agreed or can prove you contributed.
What Unmarried Couples Do and Do Not Get
The Gap Against Married Couples
Divorcing spouses can claim maintenance, property adjustment, lump sums and pension sharing, judged on fairness. Separating cohabitants can claim none of it: no spousal-style maintenance, no pension sharing, no redistribution. What survives are strict-law claims — ownership of property you can prove an interest in, joint accounts, and provision for children. The gap is the whole point of the myth's danger.
Property: Ownership Is (Almost) Everything
The family home follows the title and the trusts behind it, disputed through the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 — TOLATA. Joint owners share per their declaration of trust (or equally absent one); where the home is in one name, the other must prove a beneficial interest through a common intention and reliance — direct payments towards purchase or mortgage being the strong currency.
What Counts in a TOLATA Claim
- Direct contributions to the purchase price or mortgage payments
- An express agreement or assurance about sharing, relied on to your detriment
- Funding major works that added value, in reliance on a shared understanding
- What rarely counts alone: paying bills, housekeeping, years of the relationship itself
Children Change the Picture — for the Children
Parents' obligations to children do not depend on marriage: child maintenance applies in full, and Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 lets a parent caring for children seek housing provision, lump sums and top-up support from a wealthy other parent — for the children's benefit, typically reverting when they grow up. Arrangements for where children live follow the same welfare framework as any family, covered in our child living arrangements guide.
Unmarried Fathers and Parental Responsibility
An unmarried father gains parental responsibility by being named on the birth certificate (registrations from 1 December 2003), by agreement, or by court order — not automatically by cohabiting with the mother.
Separation Agreements When You Split
Separating cohabitants can record their deal — who keeps the home, how equity is divided, what happens to contents and debts — in a separation agreement. Properly drafted with both sides advised, it is enforceable as a contract, and it is vastly cheaper than a TOLATA trial. Mediation through the Family Mediation Council resolves many of these disputes without proceedings at all.
Cohabitation Agreements: Protection Before the Problem
The best time to fix your rights is while you are together: a cohabitation agreement plus an express declaration of trust over the home settles ownership, contributions and separation terms in advance, at a fraction of a dispute's cost. Add wills — cohabitants inherit nothing on intestacy — and, where relevant, pension death-benefit nominations.
Reform: Under Consultation, Not Yet Law
Where the Law May Move
The government's family law consultation "A fairer end to relationships", open until 14 August 2026, proposes an opt-out financial remedies scheme for eligible cohabitants — those with a shared child or a qualifying period of living together — alongside wider financial-remedy reforms. It is a consultation: nothing changes until legislation passes, and any scheme would allow couples to opt out. Until then, the strict law in this guide governs every separation — plan on it, not on the reform.
Frequently askedQuestions about unmarried couples' rights
Is there common-law marriage in the UK?
No — not in England and Wales, however long you cohabit. Living together creates no maintenance rights, no automatic property share and no inheritance on intestacy. The rights people imagine come only from marriage, civil partnership, or agreements you actually make.
What am I entitled to if I separate from my unmarried partner?
Property you own legally or beneficially, your share of joint assets, and child support where you care for children — including possible Schedule 1 housing provision. There is no right to maintenance for yourself or to a share of your ex-partner's assets or pension.
Can I claim a share of a house in my partner's sole name?
Only by proving a beneficial interest under trusts law: direct contributions to the purchase or mortgage, or an agreement to share that you relied on to your detriment. Paying household bills or the length of the relationship rarely suffices alone. Evidence decides these cases.
Do unmarried fathers have parental responsibility?
Yes if named on the birth certificate for registrations from 1 December 2003, or through a parental responsibility agreement or court order. Cohabitation itself confers nothing — and parental responsibility is separate from the maintenance obligation, which exists regardless.
Is the law on cohabitation rights changing?
Possibly. A government consultation open until 14 August 2026 proposes an opt-out financial remedies scheme for eligible cohabitants. Nothing is law yet — separations today run on the current strict framework, so agreements and declarations of trust remain the real protection.
Tell us whose name the home is in, what you each contributed and whether children are involved. We will tell you what you can actually claim — and the cheapest route to it.
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