Life insurance
Life insurance for unmarried couples: what the law does not give you
Living together is treated differently from marriage by benefits, by inheritance and by tax. Choose your situation to see what the state would pay your partner.
Independent site, not an insurer, broker or government service: benefit claims are made only on GOV.UK.
Bereavement Support Payment for your partner
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
Paid to your partner in total
£9,800
| One-off payment | £3,500 |
| Then 18 monthly payments of | £350 |
| Rate | higher |
Claim within 3 months of the death for the full amount; the person who died must have paid enough National Insurance.
For a couple who live together without marrying or forming a civil partnership, the gap left by a death is often larger than for a married couple. Bereavement Support Payment is due to a cohabiting partner only if, when the partner died, they were getting Child Benefit for a child living with them, were entitled to it, or were pregnant: in that case the full £9,800 is paid. Without children, an unmarried partner gets nothing, where a married partner would get £4,300. Inheritance is the second gap. With no will, an unmarried partner has no automatic right to inherit, and anything left to them by will is taxed above the £325,000 nil-rate band, because the spouse exemption does not apply. A life policy written in trust for the partner reaches them directly, whatever the will says.
Rates read and sums checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How the figures are worked out
Married and unmarried, side by side
The table sets the three things that change between a married and an unmarried couple: the bereavement benefit, inheritance tax on what the survivor receives, and what happens without a will, as GOV.UK’s intestacy guide sets out. Benefit amounts are the DWP rates for 2026/27; the conditions are those of GOV.UK’s Bereavement Support Payment guide.
| Couple | Bereavement Support Payment | Inheritance tax on what the partner inherits | Without a will |
|---|---|---|---|
| Married or civil partners, child at home | £9,800 | Exempt | Spouse inherits all or part |
| Married or civil partners, no child | £4,300 | Exempt | Spouse inherits all or part |
| Living together, child at home | £9,800 | Taxed above £325,000 | No automatic right to inherit |
| Living together, no child | £0 | Taxed above £325,000 | No automatic right to inherit |
The inheritance tax gap in figures
Take an estate of £350,000, including a £250,000 share of a home, left by will to an unmarried partner, and a £200,000 life policy paid into the estate. The partner is not a child or grandchild, so no residence band applies, and there is no spouse exemption. The policy adds £80,000 of inheritance tax, and the partner receives £120,000 of the £200,000. Written in trust for the partner, the same policy would have reached them in full. The rules are on GOV.UK’s inheritance tax page; the trust calculator runs your own case.
What cover usually has to do
For an unmarried couple without children, the need is often the home: a survivor who owns half the house and has a mortgage in both names may have to buy out the other half from the estate, or pay the whole mortgage alone. For a couple with children, the state does pay Bereavement Support Payment, but the long-term income need is the same as for married parents. The life cover calculator has a setting for living together, which counts the benefit only when it is due.
Death in service and pensions
Many employer schemes ask members to say on an expression of wishes form who should receive death in service and survivor benefits. A partner who is not named on it leaves the scheme to decide without that guidance. Filling the form in costs nothing and is worth doing at the same time as any new policy. The death in service page shows how far that benefit goes.
Three steps that close most of the gap
First, write a will, because without one an unmarried partner inherits nothing under the intestacy rules. Second, put any life policy in trust with the partner as a beneficiary, so the payout reaches them directly and outside the estate. Third, fill in the expression of wishes form for each pension and death in service scheme, naming the partner. None of the three costs much, and together they mean the money that exists reaches the person it was meant for. Only then is it worth working out how much extra cover is needed, using the calculator with the unmarried setting so that Bereavement Support Payment is counted only where children qualify.