The big inheritance shake-up for unmarried couples - and what it means
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to This Is Money podcast sponsored by Trading 212. Download the Trading 212 app today and open a cash ISA with promo code TIM to get the 12 month bonus promo rate of 4.76% term supply. I'm Georgie Foster and joining me and Simon Lambert today is Lee Boyce and coming up. Could unmarried partners get automatic inheritance rights? The government is looking at new reforms to better reflect modern society. Ali has been speaking to the deputy PM about the new proposals. Also today, don't fancy DIY investing but worried about too much Elon in your passive portfolio? Simon will tell you how to invest in cheap index tracker funds properly. Plus more bad pension saving news and inconvenient parkers.
What can you do about it? Don't forget your steps today with all the latest breaking money news. Just go to thisismoney.co.uk or download the app. But first, for years, we've been reminding listeners on the pod, there is no such thing as a common law spouse. So write a will. all be about to change under new government proposals, which would mean millions of cohabiting couples could gain automatic inheritance rights if a partner dies without a will. The plans would also create new rules for dividing property when unmarried couples separate and strengthen protections for domestic abuse survivors. Welcome, Simon. Welcome, Lee. Hi, Georgie.
Yeah, so this is a kind of idea put together by David Lammy's Ministry of Justice. There are three and a half million cohabiting couples that are living together but don't get the same rights as you do when you are married.
What changes are proposed for unmarried couples regarding inheritance rights?
And what that creates is quite often inheritance problems, problems around property. You may have children, but you may not be married. There's all sorts of scenarios in which people aren't married yet. and don't have the kind of rights and protections potentially you have as a married couple. You know, it's the modern world. Things have changed quite a lot in the last 20, 30, 40 years, I would say. In regards to this, people are probably having long relationships outside of a marriage. Mr. Lammy himself, who I interviewed about this, and you can hear his voice in a little while, were saying that basically young people are putting off marriage because it's expensive to get married and something like 51% of children are now born outside of marriage.
So, and I think what they're trying to set out here is better protections, better rights to make sure that family finances aren't blown apart in the case of a breakup, especially protecting children in those kind of circumstances. Now, this is a consultation, so we'll kind of put that out there that, you know, this isn't... coming in and it's not coming in in the way, shape and form it's kind of been outlined at the moment. It will run until the 14th of August. Mr Lammy was very clear to say that lawyers, academics, charities and the public will be able to have their say on these proposals. The thing is and one of the kind of points to it that I kind of was questioning is you know does this kind of water down a little bit the concept of marriage because marriage does give you those rights to finances and I think most of us are aware and know that you know does it make marriage even more of a kind of
not a pointless exercise but it kind of waters down uh the kind of idea of marriage a little bit i think that's one thing that definitely our commenters in this story are talking about and they kind of understand it but there are also circumstances in which it probably makes sense for more rules uh and more rights to come into place as i say in this kind of new modern world i This is going to throw up potentially some very complicated cases. Think money, property might not fall into the hands you might necessarily have wanted it to. And how do you negate and fight back on all of that? So all of this is in the proposal phase. And, you know, as I say, it's an interesting concept and it affects a lot of people.
It'd be interesting to see how it goes and what comes of it.
As someone who is unmarried and who owns a home with someone, this is something that is very relevant to me, although I do have a will, as does my partner.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–1:42
2
What changes are proposed for unmarried couples regarding inheritance rights?
1:42–6:18
3
How could the new inheritance proposals impact cohabiting couples?
6:18–16:35
4
What are the potential challenges with the proposed inheritance reforms?
16:35–22:10
5
How can cohabiting couples protect their financial rights?
22:10–52:52
Speakers
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