To mark the 50th anniversary of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (‘the Inheritance Act’) receiving Royal Assent on 12 November 2025 Hayley’s specialist Consultancy Team are releasing an ‘Inside the Inheritance Act’ series to provide clients with a deeper dive into how the Inheritance Act works; one article per week in the series, in the build up to the anniversary.
In this chapter of the series, the team will be diving into the legal standing that a cohabiting partner has to bring a claim under the Inheritance Act.
What is the Inheritance Act?
The Inheritance Act allows certain categories of individuals to seek reasonable financial provision from the estate of someone who has died, where their Will or the intestacy rules have failed to provide for them.
Among the categories of applicants who can make a claim are cohabiting partners of the deceased.
Who qualifies as a cohabiting partner of the deceased?
Cohabiting partners are explicitly included in the class of potential applicants under the Inheritance Act at section 1(1)(ba), defined as:
‘any person (not being a person included in paragraph (a) or (b) above) to whom subsection (1A) below applies’
Section 1(1A) goes on to clarify:
‘this subsection applies to a person if the deceased died on or after 1st January 1996 and, during the whole of the period of two years ending immediately before the date when the deceased died, the person was living (a) in the same household as the deceased and (b) as if that person and the deceased were a married couple of civil partners’
Contrary to a common misunderstanding of the Inheritance Act, it is not a requirement for this applicant to evidence that they were financially dependant in any way upon the deceased for them to be eligible to bring a claim against the estate.
However, like a child of the family or financial dependant, this category of applicant must evidence their eligibility to bring the claim before they can move on to the Court considering whether reasonable financial provision for them. They are not simply able to produce a certificate to evidence that eligibility as with the remaining categories of applicant.
Evidence of eligibility for a cohabiting partner will often be in the form of utility bills and similar showing the applicant registered at the same address as the deceased for at least two years prior to the death. It will also often include evidence of the romantic nature of the relationship between the applicant and deceased (such as cards, love letters and gifts) as well as evidence of them sharing their lives together (such as holidays and sharing of finances etc).
The absence of such evidence does not necessarily preclude an applicant from qualifying and in particular the Courts have shown significant flexibility in their interpretation of the Act so far as cohabiting couples are concerned, including making it clear that it is not a requirement for the couple to have been sleeping together or in a sexual relationship nor even to have been living under the same roof all of the time (those that work away for the part of the week or month can still be eligible). Further, those who have been unable to cohabit in the latter months, or even years, of the relationship pre-death due to medical need (i.e. the deceased was in hospital or residing at a care home) has also been found not to preclude that partner from being eligible to pursue the claim as a cohabiting partner. For this reason it has often been the case that applicants who were in an extra-marital relationship with the deceased have also been found to be eligible despite the deceased maintaining a home elsewhere with their spouse and family.
It is often the case that a cohabitee applicant will plead in the alternative that they were a financial dependant of the deceased so that if they fail to satisfy the criteria for eligibility via the former gateway they will in any event qualify under the latter gateway. For further details of the criteria for the financial dependancy gateway see our separate article in this series.
The financial dependancy gateway for cohabiting couples does not of course require any fixed period of time during which maintenance was provided to the applicant up to the death – so long as it was in place immediately prior to the death – so will also enable cohabitees who were not cohabiting for a 2 year period pre-death to make a claim as a financial dependant instead.
How does the court then decide if a financial dependant should receive (increased) financial provision from the estate?
That will be decided by the judge weighing in the balance various factors under section 3 of the Inheritance Act. These are: (a) the financial needs and resources of the applicant (b) the financial needs and resources of any other applicant (c) the financial needs and resources of any beneficiary of the estate (d) any obligations or responsibilities the deceased had to make provision for the applicant (e) the size and nature of the estate (f) any physical or mental disability of the applicant or any beneficiary and (g) any other relevant matter such as conduct of the applicant, the deceased or another person.
In addition to those factors, when deciding a claim specifically for a former spouse/civil partner, the Court will also take into consideration under section 3(2A): the age of the applicant and the length of the period during which the applicant lived in the same household as the deceased as if the applicant and the deceased were a married couple or civil partners and the contribution made by the applicant to the welfare of the family of the deceased, including any contribution made by looking after the home or caring for the family.
When should you start a cohabitee Inheritance Act claim?
Claims should be commenced with the Court within six months of the date of the Grant of Probate or Grant of Letters of Administration. Although the Act does permit late claims you cannot assume that permission will be granted. It’s therefore important to seek specialist legal advice as soon as possible following the deceased’s death.
SBMB – Specialist Inheritance Act Consultancy Firm
If you have not received adequate provision from the estate of a loved one, contact us for a free initial consultation to discuss your options and the funding arrangements that we offer (such as no win no fee).
Read more in the series: ‘Inside the Inheritance Act’.
For more from Hayley’s specialist Consultancy Team go to ACTAPS Consultancy Firm.
