Estate Planning for Unmarried Couples: The Full Picture

If you and your partner have built a life together without getting married, your estate planning is more complicated than a married couple's, and most of the default protections married people take for granted do not apply to you.

This episode is the full picture. I start with the basics people skip: documenting who contributed what to jointly-acquired assets, and understanding how common-law marriage and cohabitation laws work in your jurisdiction, because in some places they create obligations you never agreed to, and in others they give you no rights at all. I cover cohabitation agreements, the question of how to provide for a partner who left the workforce, and the healthcare and incapacity directives that matter even more when you are not married, since you have no automatic say in a medical crisis.

Then I get into structure. There are three ways to architect this. Siloed sub-funds, where each partner controls their own portion and appoints their own council member, trustee, or protector for it. Exit mechanisms written in advance so a split does not turn into a war. And parallel mirrored structures. I also cover the commingled appreciation problem, which is where a lot of these arrangements quietly go wrong.

In this episode:

• Documenting contributions to jointly-acquired assets

• How common-law marriage and cohabitation statutes change the picture

• Cohabitation agreements and the non-working partner question

• Healthcare and incapacity directives when you are not married

• Three ways to structure shared wealth, and when each fits

If you are building wealth with a partner and you are not married, the law is not going to fill in the gaps for you. This episode is how you fill them in yourself.