If you live with someone and they pass away without being married to you, you have very few automatic legal rights. You cannot assume you will keep the home, inherit their belongings, or control their funeral. What you actually walk away with depends on how property was titled, whether your partner left a will or named you as a beneficiary on their accounts, and whether your state recognizes your relationship in any form.
The sections below walk through each piece of that outcome.
Whether You Can Stay in the Home
The first worry for most people is housing. The answer depends on your legal connection to the property, not the length of the relationship.
If You Rent
If your name is on the lease alongside the deceased, you can stay. You are still bound by the lease and now carry the full rent on your own. If your name is not on the lease, you have no legal right to remain. The landlord can ask you to leave, and while most will give a reasonable window, plan to move quickly.
Many states also let the deceased tenant’s estate or a family member terminate the lease early with written notice, even if months remain on the term. That can shorten your time in the home even when you are a co-tenant. The notice period is commonly one to two months after proof of death, though the specifics vary by state.
If the Home Was Owned
Three different outcomes are possible depending on how the title reads.
If you and the deceased co-owned the home as joint tenants with right of survivorship, the property passes to you automatically. No probate is needed. You typically file a copy of the death certificate with the county recorder’s office to update the title. This is the smoothest transition in the whole process.
If the home was owned as tenants in common, the deceased’s share becomes part of their estate and you only keep your own share. Their portion goes to whoever is named in the will or, if there is no will, to their closest living relatives under state law. You can end up co-owning a home with people you did not choose.
If the deceased was the sole owner, you have no ownership interest at all. The home belongs to the estate, and the executor or administrator decides what happens to it. You may be asked to leave so the property can be sold or transferred to heirs. There is no federal protection that lets an unmarried partner remain in a home they do not own.
Transfer-on-Death Deeds
About 29 states and the District of Columbia allow homeowners to sign a transfer-on-death deed, sometimes called a beneficiary deed. The document names someone to receive the property at death, and it works outside of probate. The beneficiary can be anyone. If your partner signed one of these naming you, the home passes to you without going through the estate. If you are not sure, check with the county recorder’s office where the property is located to see whether one was recorded.
What You Can Inherit
Property moves on three different tracks after someone dies. Some assets skip the estate entirely, some are controlled by a will, and the rest are distributed by state law. Where you stand depends on which track applies to each asset.
Beneficiary Designations
Certain financial accounts let the owner name a beneficiary who receives the money directly when the owner dies, with no will or probate required. This is the single most important mechanism for an unmarried partner, because it works regardless of your marital status or family relationship.
- Life insurance proceeds go to whoever is named on the policy. An unmarried partner can absolutely be the named beneficiary. If you are listed, you file a claim with the insurance company, provide a death certificate, and the payout comes to you.
- IRAs and 401(k)s pass to the designated beneficiary. Any person can be named, though non-spouse beneficiaries face different distribution timelines and tax treatment than spouses do.1Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiary
- Payable-on-death bank accounts let the account holder designate any person to receive the funds. The beneficiary has no access while the account holder is alive. After death, you claim the money by showing a death certificate and identification at the bank.
A beneficiary designation on one of these accounts overrides whatever the will says and whatever intestacy law would do. Many people assume the will controls everything. It does not. Check with the deceased’s employer, insurance companies, banks, and any brokerage or retirement account providers to find out whether you were named.
If There Was a Will
For assets with no beneficiary designation and no joint ownership, the deceased’s will controls. You inherit only if the will specifically names you. The will also names an executor, who is responsible for paying debts and distributing property to the named beneficiaries. If you were not included, you receive nothing from the estate, regardless of how long you lived together.
If There Was No Will
When someone dies without a will, state intestacy laws dictate who inherits. Every state follows roughly the same hierarchy: surviving spouse first, then children, then parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives. Unmarried partners do not appear anywhere in that hierarchy. It does not matter that you shared a home for twenty years, raised children together, or were the most important person in the deceased’s life. Without a will naming you or a beneficiary designation on the account, the property goes to blood relatives.
Debts and Bills
You are not responsible for someone else’s individual debts just because you lived together. Credit card balances, medical bills, and personal loans in their name alone are claims against their estate, not against you. If the estate does not have enough to pay those debts, creditors absorb the loss.
The exception is joint debt. If you co-signed a loan, were a joint borrower on a mortgage, or held a joint credit card account, you owe the full remaining balance. The lender does not need to collect from the estate first. You are on the hook directly, and the death of the other borrower does not reduce or forgive what you owe.
For household utilities, the line is the date of death. Bills that accumulated while the account was in the deceased’s name are a liability of the estate. Once you keep using the services, you are responsible for the charges going forward. Contact each utility provider to move accounts into your name so you are not left without service while the estate is sorted out.
Personal Belongings and Vehicles
Furniture, jewelry, electronics, clothing, and other items that belonged solely to the deceased are part of the estate. Even if you used these things daily, you do not have the right to keep, sell, or give them away. Taking possession of estate property can create legal problems with the heirs or executor.
Items you owned jointly or purchased yourself remain yours. The challenge is proving ownership when two people share a household and there are no receipts or titles documenting who bought what. If a dispute arises, the executor or heirs may claim items you believe are yours. Keeping records of major purchases matters more than people realize when you are not married.
Vehicles follow the title. A car titled in both names as joint tenants with right of survivorship passes to you. A car titled solely in the deceased’s name belongs to the estate. Many states offer a simplified process for transferring a vehicle title from a deceased owner to an heir or beneficiary without full probate, often through a small estate affidavit filed with the motor vehicles agency. Value limits and procedures vary by state.
Funeral and Burial Decisions
This is one of the most painful areas where unmarried partners get shut out. In most states, legal authority over funeral arrangements and the remains follows a priority list: surviving spouse first, then adult children, then parents, then siblings. An unmarried partner typically does not appear on the list at all unless the state recognizes domestic partnerships or the deceased signed a written directive naming you.
Without that authority, the deceased’s family members control the arrangements even if they were estranged and you were the person providing care until the end. Hospitals and funeral homes follow the statutory hierarchy, and in a dispute they will defer to the next of kin.
The fix is a document sometimes called a designation of agent for disposition of remains, though the name varies by state. It allows a person to name anyone they choose to handle funeral decisions, and that designation overrides the default family priority list. If your partner signed one, it gives you legal authority. If not, you may need to rely on the cooperation of their family.
Government Benefits and Taxes
Social Security survivor benefits, including the one-time $255 lump-sum death payment, are available only to a surviving spouse or eligible children of the deceased worker.2Social Security Administration. Requirements for the Lump-Sum Death Payment An unmarried partner does not qualify, regardless of how long you lived together or how financially dependent you were on the deceased’s income.3Social Security Administration. Who Can Get Survivor Benefits For someone who relied on a partner’s earnings, this can be a serious financial blow.
On the tax side, married couples benefit from an unlimited marital deduction that lets a surviving spouse inherit any amount free of federal estate tax. As an unmarried partner, you do not get that deduction. If the deceased’s estate exceeds the federal estate tax exemption of $15 million in 2026, any amount above that threshold is subject to federal estate tax.4Internal Revenue Service. Estate Tax Most estates fall below that line, but the protection married spouses get does not extend to you.
Five states also impose a separate inheritance tax: Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The person receiving the inheritance pays it, and rates depend on your relationship to the deceased. Spouses and close relatives pay little or nothing. Unrelated beneficiaries, which is how most of these states classify an unmarried partner, face the highest rates, running up to 15 or 16 percent depending on the state.5Tax Foundation. Estate and Inheritance Taxes by State, 2025
Does Common-Law Marriage or a Domestic Partnership Change Anything
About ten states and the District of Columbia still recognize common-law marriage, including Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah, with Rhode Island and Oklahoma recognizing it through court decisions.6National Conference of State Legislatures. Common Law Marriage by State If you can establish that a valid common-law marriage existed, you gain the rights of a legally married spouse: inheritance under intestacy, survivor benefits, the marital estate tax deduction, and authority over funeral decisions.
Proving a common-law marriage after your partner has died is genuinely difficult. You typically need to show that you both agreed to be married, lived together, and presented yourselves publicly as a married couple. Evidence might include joint tax returns, using the same last name, or listing each other as spouses on insurance or official forms. Courts scrutinize these claims closely, and the deceased is not there to confirm. If you think you had a common-law marriage, consult a family law attorney in your state before making any legal moves.
A handful of states offer domestic partnership or civil union registration with varying levels of protection, including California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. In California, registered domestic partners can inherit under intestacy law just as a spouse would. In most other states, domestic partnership carries far fewer rights and does not automatically include inheritance protections. And none of these statuses are recognized under federal law the way marriage is, so even a registered partner does not qualify for Social Security survivor benefits or the federal estate tax marital deduction.
Medical Records and Digital Accounts
Under HIPAA, a deceased person’s medical records can be released to their “personal representative,” meaning the executor or estate administrator. If you are not in that role, you generally have no right to demand the records. HIPAA does permit health care providers to share limited information with family members or others who were involved in the person’s care before death, including domestic partners, as long as the disclosure is relevant to that involvement and the deceased did not previously object.7U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Health Information of Deceased Individuals This is discretionary. The provider can say no.
Nearly every state has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which governs who can access a deceased person’s email, social media, cloud storage, and other online accounts. The law defaults to nondisclosure of the content of electronic communications unless the deceased specifically authorized access in a will or through an online tool provided by the platform. Without that authorization, even the executor may need a court order to read the deceased’s emails or messages. As an unmarried partner with no legal role in the estate, you have essentially no pathway to those accounts on your own.
What To Do Now If Your Partner Is Still Living
Almost every problem above is preventable with advance planning, and none of the fixes require marriage. The most protective steps:
- Put both names on the lease, or on the home title with right of survivorship.
- Name each other as beneficiaries on life insurance and retirement accounts.
- Set up payable-on-death designations on bank accounts.
- Sign wills that include each other.
- Execute a health care proxy and a designation of agent for remains.
Each of these replaces a protection that marriage would otherwise provide automatically. Done together, they close most of the gaps the law leaves open for unmarried couples.