Warning issued to any UK couples living together who aren’t married

An important warning has been issued to couples who aren't married but are living under the same roof.

And as it seems, that's quite a lot of us - according to the most recent ONS statistics, which cover the year from Jan-Dec 2023, a whopping 90% of people in the UK cohabited before they got married.

In the UK, there were approximately 3.5 million cohabiting couple families in 2024 and this figure has increased by 16% since 2014.

If this is you, listen up, because the UK's very own money guru Martin Lewis has some words of advice you might want to take on board.

Speaking on his BBC podcast earlier this year, the expert recalled an encounter he had with a taxi driver on his way to the studio.

He recalled that the driver, who was called Joe, revealed that he and his partner had tied the knot because of the Money Saving Expert founder's advice on inheritance tax, outlining just how much their kids would lose out on if they passed away without being married.

Advice has been issued to couple's who live together but aren't married (Getty Stock Image)

Now, of course, we're of course not suggesting getting married for monetary reasons, however, the benefits are 'pretty substantial'.

Lewis explained: "I thought it might be worth explaining to you what the benefit of marriage within the inheritance tax world is, and it's actually pretty substantial. When we talk about marriage it applies to anyone who is married or who has a legal civil partnership.

"But this does not apply to you if you are just cohabiting. That was the think with Soho Joe the taxi driver, he and his partner had been cohabiting for 33 years but they didn't have any legal representation of their relationship."

He added: "A legal recognition of your relationship and civil partnership is also a legal recognition of your relationship without some of the, some might say, paternalistic religious overhang that a marriage has."

Inheritance law not only comes with a huge tax on anything the deceased owns, but also means a partner has no status unless they are in a civil partnership or married to their significant other.

Essentially, although it's not nice to think about, if your partner did pass away, you may end up with nothing. For example, even if you'd both shared a flat for years, it's not rightfully yours and you have no status to claim it unless legally tied to them.

The Money Saving Expert has dished out his advice on the topic (Karwai Tang / Contributor / via Getty Images)

The Money Saving Expert explained: "So the two big inheritance tax benefits. First of all your spouse won't pay inheritance tax on anything you leave to them. When you die any money, any property, any assets left to your spouse is automatically exempt from inheritance tax.

"An even more important inheritance tax boon of marriage is you can pass on your unused inheritance tax balance to your spouse. So in plainspeak you don't pay inheritance tax on the first £325,000 you leave when you die.

"Above that if you're leaving your main residence to your direct descendants, so your children or grandchildren or step children, you usually get another £175,000 on top. So that's £500,000 that you can leave without paying tax on it."

He explained that if you leave everything to your spouse when you die, then you haven't used any of those allowances and as they're 'unused' they get passed on to your spouse.

"That means when your spouse passes away their allowance and yours, which means if you're leaving the main property, they can then leave a million pounds they can pass on without paying any inheritance tax. That's a huge benefit," he continued.

"And that's why it's often worth looking at getting married or a civil partnership which counts in exactly the same way."