What happens to my pension if I die and my partner and I are not married?

Full answer

Pension death benefits are one of the areas where the legal distinction between marriage or civil partnership and simply living together as a couple matters a great deal, because unmarried partners do not automatically inherit in the same way spouses and civil partners often do. **Defined contribution (DC) pensions and Expression of Wishes** For most modern workplace and personal defined contribution pensions (including SIPPs), the pension scheme trustees or provider have discretion over who receives the remaining pot on death -- it does not automatically follow the rules of your will or the intestacy rules that apply to your other assets. You tell the scheme who you would like to benefit by completing an Expression of Wishes (sometimes called a nomination) form. While trustees are not legally bound to follow this form exactly, they almost always do so absent unusual circumstances, which is why keeping it up to date -- especially after starting to cohabit with a new partner, having children, or separating from a previous partner -- is critical. If you have never completed one, or it still names an ex-partner or a parent from years ago, your current unmarried partner could be entirely overlooked. **Why cohabiting partners are especially at risk** Because cohabiting partners have no automatic legal status equivalent to marriage for pension purposes (unlike, in many cases, for Inheritance Tax spousal exemption or intestacy), a scheme without a valid, up-to-date Expression of Wishes naming the partner may instead pay benefits to a spouse from an earlier marriage that was never formally ended, to children, to parents, or into the wider estate, rather than to the person the deceased would have actually wanted to benefit. **Defined benefit (DB) and public sector schemes** Many defined benefit pension schemes (including most public sector schemes such as the NHS, Local Government, Teachers' and Civil Service schemes) pay an ongoing survivor's pension automatically to a legal spouse or civil partner on the member's death. Increasingly, many (though not all) such schemes have also extended this to a "nominated partner" or "eligible cohabiting partner," but this usually requires the member to have proactively registered the relationship with the scheme -- often requiring evidence of a minimum period of cohabitation (commonly two years) and evidence of financial interdependence -- rather than being automatic simply from living together. Some older or smaller schemes still only recognise a legal spouse or civil partner, excluding cohabiting partners regardless of the length or nature of the relationship. **Inheritance Tax treatment** Pension death benefits are generally paid outside the deceased's estate under current rules (though this is due to change from April 2027, when most pensions are set to become part of the taxable estate for Inheritance Tax purposes), so a nominated cohabiting partner receiving a lump sum death benefit currently avoids Inheritance Tax on it in the same way a spouse would, provided the nomination and payment are made correctly by the scheme trustees. **What unmarried couples should actively do** - Complete (and periodically update) an Expression of Wishes form with every DC pension provider, explicitly naming the partner. - Check whether any DB or public sector scheme has a nominated partner registration process, and complete it if the relationship qualifies. - Consider a will alongside pension nominations, since pensions and general estate assets are treated very differently on death for an unmarried couple. **Worked example** A couple has lived together for eight years but never married. One partner dies suddenly, holding a workplace DC pension worth £120,000. Because they completed and regularly updated an Expression of Wishes form naming their partner as sole beneficiary, the pension scheme trustees pay the full £120,000 to the surviving partner, generally free of Inheritance Tax under current rules. Had no Expression of Wishes been completed, or had it still named a previous partner from years earlier, the trustees might instead have paid the benefit elsewhere -- to the deceased's estate, parents, or a previous nominated person -- leaving the surviving cohabiting partner with no automatic claim at all.

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