Unmarried And Cohabitating? Here’s What To Remember When Estate Planning

Living with someone but not married? You’re not alone. Long term cohabitation of couples is common nowadays. And no, you don’t have to get married. But if you opt not to, you may have some estate planning considerations, because even though you may say “it’s just like we’re married,” the law doesn’t see it that way.

Estate Planning for Unmarried Couples

If you are cohabitating, and decide to create an estate plan, good job—a lot of cohabitating couples don’t do that, and thus their significant other gets nothing from the deceased’s estate, because intestate laws don’t recognize couples who aren’t married.

Additionally, estate planning becomes even more important if your significant other is still legally married (for example, if your partner never legally obtained a divorce from his or her ex spouse).

Estate Taxes and Gifts

If you are creating an estate plan, one thing to think about is the estate tax entity. Yes, estate taxes don’t come into play until your estate gets to over $20 million. But as of 2025, that amount is set to go back to $5 million. That means assets that pass to anybody else in your estate, will be subject to a huge 40% tax rate.

People who are not married may want to consider distributing assets before death, in the form of gifts, to lower the value of their estate. Gifts to lower the size or value of an estate can legally be used by unmarried couples. You can also utilize joint ownership of property, or different kinds of trusts.

Incapacitation and Powers of Attorney

Remember that should you go ill or be incapacitated, your significant others’ doctors will not necessarily speak to you, and you won’t have the legal right to make decisions for your significant other, the way a legally married spouse would have.

You can avoid this problem by using powers of attorney, and health care directives, and other documents, which can designate your partner to be the one that makes your medical decisions, and which gives him or her access to your medical information.

For items that can be titled, make sure that they are titled properly. Anything that is titled as being co-owned as tenants in common, will pass to whomever is designated in your will or estate documents. But any assets titled as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, will automatically pass to the other co-owner (presumably, your significant other), outside of your will or other estate documents.

Individual Assets and Accounts

Remember that a lot of assets will take precedence over your will, such as payable on demand accounts or certain retirement accounts. They will pass to whomever is named as beneficiaries on those accounts. If that’s someone from your past, and you want it to be your current partner, you’ll need to handle those accounts individually.

Call the Torrance probate will and estate attorneys at Samuel Ford Law today if you are cohabitating to make sure your estate plan does what you need and want it to do.

Sources:

fiduciarytrust.com/insights/article-detail/trust-estate–tax-planning/estate-planning-for-unmarried-couples

jpmorgan.com/insights/wealth-planning/estate-planning/retirement-and-estate-planning-for-unmarried-couples