lf1

I just wanted to post this as it may apply to others moving back to UK. OH and I have been together for 25 years, but are not married. This was not a problem for us in Canada as we were recognized as being a common-law couple. The UK does not recognize such relationships in law, therefore, if we one of us died, without a will, our assets would go to our "next of kin", but not to each other. We both have wills to avoid such a thing occurring, but, I thought I mention this in case there are others who are in a similar postion.

Also, cohabiting couples do not have the same rights as married couples or those in Civil Partnerships with respect to Inheritance Tax, so if you are returning to the UK and are putting together a financial plan, keep this in mind if you are "living in sin"

The simple answer is to get married, but it just irks me that the UK has not moved into the 21st Century with respect to this issue.

UK IFA

Whilst it is true that cohabiting couples are not recognised, it is not necessarily true that married couples or those in civil partnerships benefit any better without a will than yourself.

if you die "intestate" there are definitive rules on who gets what. The following link would be useful.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/customerguide/page14-1.htm

However, there are some simple measures.

The home should be owned as joint tenants, thereby on death it passes to the partner automatically

Life policies should be written in trust to the other partner

You should make a nomination that pension or death in service benefits are passed to your partner (this will depend on the scheme rules)

You are both executors in each others will

And finally

you set up Lasting Powers of Attorneys that give you the facility to act on behalf of each other should you loose mental capacity.

In fact most people should set these up.

If all of this has been done, I can't immediately think of much else,but others may have some ideas.

As far as IHT is concerned, effective use of the will and trusts should mitigate this.

lf1

Yes, we have wills, PoA's etc and the house going to the other upon death, however, IHT may still come into play, but wouldn't if we were married. I don't disagree with having all of that in place even if you are married. There is also some suggestion that we can't arrange each others funerals as this could fall to next of kin. The point of my post is to high light that cohabiting couples do not have the same rights in the UK as in Canada and may have to take some action to protect themselves.

There are other areas that may affect people e.g. children and breakdown of the relationship.