If you die without a will in Massachusetts and you are not married to your partner, your partner inherits nothing — period. Massachusetts intestate succession rules under M.G.L. c. 190B Article II only recognize legal spouses, descendants (children, grandchildren), parents, siblings, and other blood or adopted relatives. An unmarried partner — no matter how long you have been together, no matter how committed your relationship, no matter how clearly your intentions were known — is not on the list.
The result: your assets go to your relatives. Your partner may have to leave the home you shared. Your retirement accounts, your bank accounts, your car — anything titled solely in your name without a beneficiary designation — passes to family who may have had no relationship with your partner at all.
This is one of the most painful and avoidable estate planning failures we see. Here is exactly what happens, and what to do about it.
Massachusetts Intestate Succession: The Rules That Apply Without a Will
When someone dies without a will in Massachusetts (called dying “intestate”), the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code dictates exactly who inherits and in what proportions. The hierarchy:
| Family Situation | Who Inherits |
| Spouse and shared children | Entire estate to spouse |
| Spouse and decedent’s children from prior relationship | Spouse: first $100,000 + ½ of remainder; Children: ½ of remainder |
| Spouse and parents (no children) | Spouse: first $200,000 + ¾ of remainder; Parents: ¼ of remainder |
| Spouse, no children, no parents | Entire estate to spouse |
| No spouse, but children | Entire estate to children equally |
| No spouse, no children, but parents alive | Entire estate to parents |
| No spouse, no children, no parents, but siblings | Entire estate to siblings |
| No close family at all | Estate “escheats” to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
An unmarried partner appears nowhere on this list. Whether you have lived together for two months or thirty years, the law treats your partner as a legal stranger.
Does Massachusetts recognize common law marriage? covers a closely related question. The short answer there: Massachusetts does not recognize common law marriages formed in Massachusetts. Even decades of cohabitation, shared finances, and joint parenting do not create a legal marriage that triggers spousal inheritance rights.
A Concrete Example
A common scenario in our office:
Sarah and David lived together in Andover for 18 years. They never married — they had been planning to do it eventually but never made it official. They owned their home together (both names on the deed), but everything else was in Sarah’s name: her retirement account, her checking account, her brokerage account, her car, her life insurance. Sarah had drafted a will years ago naming David as her beneficiary, but she never signed it.
Sarah died unexpectedly at 52. Without a signed will, Massachusetts intestacy applied. Sarah’s parents — divorced, distant, and not close to either Sarah or David — inherited everything in Sarah’s sole name. The house remained co-owned with David, but the brokerage account, retirement accounts, and life insurance proceeds went to her parents. Her parents kept all of it, despite knowing Sarah’s wishes.
David lost his life partner, a meaningful portion of their financial life, and ultimately the home — because he could not afford the mortgage on his income alone after the support provided by Sarah’s accounts evaporated.
This is not a rare story. We see versions of it regularly.
Why Joint Tenancy Sometimes Helps — But Often Doesn’t
Some couples assume that joint tenancy with right of survivorship — for the home, the bank account, the car — protects them. It can, partially, but it has serious limits.
What joint tenancy does: When one joint tenant dies, the surviving joint tenant automatically owns the entire asset, outside of probate. So if Sarah and David’s house was jointly owned, David kept the house regardless of the will situation.
What joint tenancy does NOT do:
- It does not cover assets that are not jointly titled. Sarah’s solo brokerage account, retirement account, life insurance, and personal property all went to her parents.
- It creates gift tax issues for unmarried couples. Adding a partner to a joint deed can be treated as a gift of half the property’s value, potentially triggering gift tax filing requirements.
- It exposes the asset to the partner’s creditors. If David had been sued, half the home would be reachable.
- It is irrevocable in practice. Once Sarah added David to the deed, she could not remove him without his consent.
Joint tenancy vs tenants in common for unmarried couples goes deeper into these trade-offs.
What Should Have Happened: The Estate Planning Fix
The full estate plan that would have protected David is not complicated. It includes:
1. A Signed Will
The will is the document that overrides intestate succession. With a will, Sarah could have named David as the beneficiary of her residuary estate, and her parents would have inherited only what she chose to leave them. The will needs to be:
- Signed by Sarah in front of two witnesses
- Witnessed by two adults who saw her sign
- Stored somewhere accessible (the original is what is filed with probate)
A handwritten or unsigned will is not enforceable in Massachusetts. The fact that Sarah had drafted a will but not signed it gave it no legal effect.
2. Updated Beneficiary Designations
Retirement accounts (401(k), IRA), life insurance, and many bank accounts pass by beneficiary designation, not by will. Sarah should have named David as the beneficiary on each of these accounts. Beneficiary designations override the will — which means even with a perfect will, accounts that name “estate” or that name no beneficiary go through probate (and can pass to relatives under intestate rules if combined with other gaps).
For unmarried couples, beneficiary designations are often the most powerful and underused tool. They are free, take ten minutes per account, and bypass probate entirely.
3. A Revocable Living Trust (For Larger Estates)
For couples with substantial assets, a revocable living trust offers significant advantages:
- Avoids probate entirely, which is faster and more private than going through the will
- Provides for incapacity (the successor trustee can manage assets if Sarah became unable)
- Can be coordinated to provide for David during his lifetime and direct what remains to other beneficiaries on his death
- Reduces public exposure — wills become public record in probate; trusts generally do not
What is a living trust explains the foundational concept. 3 key benefits of a revocable living trust explains why we generally recommend trusts for unmarried couples with significant assets.
4. Health Care Proxy and HIPAA Authorization
If Sarah had been incapacitated rather than killed — say, in a serious accident, in a coma — David would not have automatic legal authority to make medical decisions or even to receive medical information from her doctors. Massachusetts hospitals can default to family. A health care proxy names David and gives him priority over family.
A HIPAA authorization separately gives David access to medical records — important for coordinating care, communicating with doctors, and making informed decisions.
5. Durable Power of Attorney
Similar to the medical proxy but for finances. Without a durable power of attorney, David could not pay Sarah’s bills, manage her accounts, or sign documents on her behalf if she became incapacitated. He would have to go to court for a conservatorship — public, expensive, and contestable by family.
Special Considerations for Same-Sex Unmarried Couples
Same-sex couples in Massachusetts can marry — same-sex marriage was legalized in Massachusetts in 2004 — but many same-sex couples deliberately choose not to marry for personal, financial, or family reasons. The estate planning consequences for same-sex unmarried couples are the same as for opposite-sex unmarried couples: no spousal inheritance rights, no automatic medical decision authority, no legal recognition of the relationship for purposes of intestate succession.
If there are children involved — particularly children of one partner who are not legally adopted by the other — the planning becomes even more important. Why second parent adoption matters for LGBTQ families covers the adoption side. What rights do non-biological LGBTQ parents have? covers the practical implications.
A Practical Checklist for Unmarried Couples
If you are in a committed unmarried relationship in Massachusetts, here is the minimum:
Immediate (this week):
- Update beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance, and bank accounts to name your partner
- Verify how your home is titled — joint tenancy with right of survivorship is generally appropriate
- Make sure you both know where important documents (financial accounts, deeds, insurance policies) are kept
Within 30 days:
- Schedule an estate planning consultation
- Sign a will that names your partner as primary beneficiary
- Sign a health care proxy and HIPAA authorization
- Sign a durable power of attorney
Within 90 days:
- Review whether a revocable living trust makes sense given your assets and goals
- Discuss long-term scenarios (incapacity, death of one partner, retirement) with each other and document understandings
- If you have children together — biological or otherwise — address their legal status (adoption, parental rights, guardianship)
Frequently Asked Questions
If we have lived together for 20 years, do we have any common law rights in Massachusetts? No. Massachusetts does not recognize common law marriages formed in Massachusetts. Length of cohabitation, shared finances, shared children, and public representation as a couple do not create marital rights for inheritance purposes.
My partner and I have a lot of joint accounts. Do we need a will? Yes. Joint accounts pass automatically to the surviving joint owner, but they do not cover assets that are solely titled or that have no joint owner — and they do not direct who gets the assets after the surviving partner dies. A will is still essential.
What if we are engaged but not yet married? Engagement creates no legal inheritance rights. Until you are legally married, you are treated as legal strangers for purposes of intestate succession. If you intend to marry soon, an estate plan in the meantime protects you during the engagement period.
Can we draft a “domestic partnership agreement” instead of getting married? Massachusetts does not have a statewide domestic partnership registry that creates inheritance rights. Some Massachusetts cities (including Boston and Cambridge) have local domestic partnership ordinances, but those provide limited rights — generally things like hospital visitation — and do not affect inheritance under state law.
What about my children — will my partner be able to take care of them? If your partner is not the legal parent of your children, Massachusetts law will not give your partner custody automatically. You can name your partner as guardian in your will, but the court has final authority. If continuity of parenting matters, second parent adoption is often the strongest legal protection.
What if my family contests the will I leave? Wills can be contested on grounds of capacity, undue influence, fraud, or improper execution. A properly drafted, witnessed, and notarized will with a clear-headed principal is generally hard to contest successfully. Where contests are a real risk, attorneys sometimes recommend a “no-contest” clause that disinherits any beneficiary who challenges the will, plus video documentation of the signing.
Don’t Wait Until Something Happens
The one common thread in every painful unmarried-partner-loses-everything story is that the person had been meaning to handle their estate plan and never got around to it. The hardest version of this conversation is the one your partner has with our office after the funeral. The easier version is the one you have today.
To put the documents in place that protect both partners in an unmarried relationship, reach out through our contact form to schedule an estate planning consultation. We work with couples across the Merrimack Valley and North Shore — Andover, North Andover, Reading, North Reading, Middleton, Georgetown, and surrounding communities.
Visit our services page to learn more about our estate planning, trust, and probate practice in Andover, Massachusetts. For more on related issues, Inheritance rights for unmarried partners covers the deeper inheritance dynamics, and Healthcare directives for LGBTQ couples addresses the medical-decision side of partner planning.