What the law does not give you if you are not married.

Unmarried partners (regardless of how long together, regardless of children, regardless of joint bank accounts) have no automatic inheritance rights in most states. None. If you do not want your partner to lose everything to your biological family, the documents below are not optional.

Without a will, your partner inherits NOTHING

State intestacy law dictates who inherits when there is no will. In every US state, the order is some variation of: spouse, children, parents, siblings. Unmarried partner is not on the list. Even after 30 years of cohabitation, even with shared kids.

Get a will today. Use the Plan Your Passing will builder. Name your partner as primary beneficiary.
If you have biological family who might contest, your will needs explicit language about why your partner inherits and your family does not.
Have your will properly witnessed and notarized in your state. An invalid will is no will.
Tell your partner where the original is kept. Tell at least one other person too.
Review every 2 years and after major life events.

Healthcare decisions: you are not on the list either

If you are hospitalized and your partner walks in, the hospital will turn to your biological family for decisions. Even if your partner has been your primary caregiver for years.

Healthcare POA naming your partner. Without it, biological family makes medical decisions and can exclude your partner from the room.
HIPAA authorization naming your partner. Without it, doctors are not allowed to share medical information with your partner.
Hospital visitation directive: some hospitals respect this, others do not. Worth signing in case.
Use the Plan Your Passing advance directive builder. Both healthcare POA and HIPAA can be done in 5 minutes.
Keep copies in multiple places: your phone, your wallet card, your partner's phone, your primary care doctor.

Joint property is not always joint

If you bought a house together but only one name is on the deed, the partner whose name is not on it has no legal claim. Same for cars, bank accounts, and many other assets.

Add your partner to deeds and titles you intend to share. Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship is the typical structure for unmarried couples.
Joint bank accounts: confirm they are titled jointly. Name on the account matters more than who deposits the money.
Cars and vehicles: jointly titled or with named TOD beneficiaries.
Beneficiary designation on retirement accounts and life insurance: name your partner explicitly.
Joint titling has gift-tax implications when done. Consult an attorney for assets above the annual gift exclusion (currently $18,000).

Children together: parental rights need their own attention

If only one of you is the legal parent (biological or adoptive) of your kids, the other parent has no automatic legal rights to those kids if the legal parent dies.

Both partners adopt the children when possible. Second-parent adoption is available in most states.
Each partner names the other as guardian in their will (with consideration for the biological parent's surviving rights).
Statement of intent: a written document expressing your wishes for your children's care if you die. Carries weight even when not legally binding.
Custody and parenting plans drafted by a family law attorney for couples with kids and unequal legal status.

Estate tax: the gift tax-free spousal exclusion does not apply

Married couples can transfer unlimited assets between each other tax-free. Unmarried couples cannot. This affects high-net-worth couples especially.

Annual gift exclusion is $18,000 per person in 2025. Above this you eat into the lifetime estate-tax exemption.
If your estate is approaching $13.6M (sunsetting end of 2025), unmarried couples have effectively half the cushion married couples do.
Trust strategies (especially irrevocable life insurance trusts) become more important for unmarried couples with significant assets.
Consult an estate-planning attorney experienced with unmarried couple planning.

Domestic partnership and civil union: state-by-state matters

A handful of states still recognize domestic partnership or civil union with various levels of inheritance rights. This is shrinking but still relevant in some places.

California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Maine, and DC have or had domestic partnership statutes that confer some inheritance rights.
Even in those states, domestic partnership is generally weaker than marriage. The estate-planning documents are still needed.
Common-law marriage is recognized in only 8 US states (CO, IA, KS, MT, NH for inheritance only, OK, RI, SC, TX, UT). Requirements are strict and most claims fail.
Do not rely on partnership status for estate inheritance. Get the documents.

Founding 10,000 Members

The Unmarried Couple Workbook is free for founding members.

Will template, healthcare POA, HIPAA authorization, joint-titling worksheet, statement of intent for kids.

Important legal notice

Plan Your Passing is not a law firm. The information on this site is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, tax, medical, or professional advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this site or using any tool on it. Estate, probate, tax, and inheritance laws differ by country, state, province, county, and individual circumstance, and they change over time. You are solely responsible for confirming the laws that apply to you. Always consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before making any legal, financial, or tax decision regarding wills, trusts, beneficiaries, probate, real estate transfers, gifts, or end-of-life directives. The author, operators, and affiliates of this site disclaim all liability for actions taken or not taken based on its contents.