Estate Planning for Unmarried Couples in California

Short answer: California has no common-law marriage — Family Code §300 requires a license and solemnization, no matter how long you’ve lived together. If you’re unmarried and your partner dies without documents, you inherit nothing under the intestacy statutes (Probate Code §6400 et seq.), you have no say over their medical care, and you’re not even on the list of people who can decide their burial or cremation. Every protection married couples get automatically, you have to build on paper. The good news: all of it is buildable.

Code sections verified against the California Family, Probate, and Health & Safety Codes, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice for your situation.

Picture a couple in Ventura, together 22 years, never married. The house — worth $850,000 — is deeded in his name because he bought it before they met. He dies without a will or trust. She gets: nothing. The house goes to his relatives, she can’t authorize his medical care in the final weeks, and his estranged brother — not her — has the legal right to decide his cremation. That’s not an exaggeration. It’s just what the statutes say when there’s no plan.

“We’re basically married” isn’t a legal status in California

Family Code §300 defines marriage as a civil contract requiring a license and solemnization. Twenty years of cohabitation, joint accounts, kids together, calling each other husband and wife — none of it creates a marriage in California. There is one exception worth knowing: if you formed a valid common-law marriage in a state that recognizes them and then moved here, California honors it under Family Code §308. But you can’t form one inside California, no matter how long you wait.

One genuine alternative: registered domestic partners inherit exactly like spouses under Family Code §297.5, and registration is now broadly available. For some couples it’s the right move; for others it carries tax and financial consequences they don’t want. It’s a real option, not a default answer.

What “no plan” actually costs an unmarried partner

• Inheritance: zero. Probate Code §6400 et seq. distributes everything to relatives — children, parents, siblings, down the family tree. An unmarried partner appears nowhere on the list. Here’s the full picture of what happens when you die without a will in California.
• Medical decisions: none. Without an advance health care directive naming you as agent, hospitals look to family. You may be the person who knows their wishes best and still be shut out of the room.
• The body itself: not your call. Health & Safety Code §7100 sets the priority list for who controls burial or cremation — health care agent, then spouse, then adult children, parents, siblings, next of kin. An unmarried partner isn’t on it. If your partner’s family dislikes you, they decide the funeral. The fix is being named — see who decides cremation or burial in California.
• The house: whatever the deed says. If it’s titled in your partner’s name alone, it passes to their intestate heirs. You may have contributed to the mortgage for a decade; the deed doesn’t care.

“Can’t I sue?” — Marvin claims are a lawsuit, not a plan

You may have heard of palimony. Marvin v. Marvin (1976) 18 Cal.3d 660 held that unmarried partners can enforce contracts between them — express or implied agreements to share property or provide support. Those claims are real. They are also litigation: suing your late partner’s estate, proving an implied agreement from years of conduct, against relatives motivated to fight you, with legal fees coming out of whatever you win. Some surviving partners have no other option. You don’t want to be one of them — a few signed documents make the question moot. And if you’re already in that position, that’s a fight for a litigator, not us; Eric will refer you out for free.

The fix list: five documents that replace the marriage statutes

• A living trust (or at minimum a will). This is what actually makes your partner your heir. A trust also keeps the estate out of probate and keeps your arrangements private. For an unmarried couple with a house, a trust is usually the backbone of the whole plan.
• Beneficiary designations, audited. Retirement accounts, life insurance, and pay-on-death accounts pass by their forms, not by your will. Name your partner directly where you want them to inherit directly — and understand why the beneficiary form beats the will whenever they conflict.
• Advance health care directive naming your partner as agent, plus a HIPAA release. The directive puts your partner in charge of medical decisions; the HIPAA release makes sure doctors can even talk to them.
• Durable power of attorney. If you’re incapacitated, this lets your partner manage your finances — pay your mortgage, deal with your bank — instead of a court-appointed stranger.
• Written designation of your agent for disposition of remains. Naming your partner as your health care agent puts them first in line under Health & Safety Code §7100(a), ahead of every relative. You can also leave your own written instructions, which under §7100.1 control outright if payment is arranged.

Also worth reviewing: how the house is titled. Joint tenancy, tenancy in common, and trust ownership behave differently at death, and for unmarried couples the tax basis consequences differ too. That’s a title-and-trust conversation worth having once, deliberately.

Questions people actually ask

Does California have common-law marriage after 7 years?

No — not after 7 years, 20 years, or any number of years. Family Code §300 requires a license and solemnization. The “seven-year rule” is folklore. The only exception: a common-law marriage validly formed in another state is recognized here under Family Code §308.

Is my unmarried partner entitled to anything if I die without a will in California?

No. California’s intestacy statutes (Probate Code §6400 et seq.) pass everything to legal relatives. An unmarried partner — regardless of how long you’ve been together — inherits nothing unless you’ve named them in a will, trust, or beneficiary designation, or you’re registered domestic partners.

Do registered domestic partners inherit like spouses in California?

Yes. Family Code §297.5 gives registered domestic partners the same rights, protections, and benefits as spouses, including intestate inheritance. Registration is a genuine alternative to marriage for inheritance purposes — though it comes with financial entanglements of its own, so treat it as a decision, not a paperwork formality.

Can my partner make medical decisions for me if we’re not married?

Only if you’ve named them as your agent in an advance health care directive. Without one, providers turn to family members, and an unmarried partner has no default legal standing — even after decades together. The directive plus a HIPAA release fixes this completely.

What is a Marvin claim?

A claim under Marvin v. Marvin (1976) 18 Cal.3d 660 that unmarried partners had an agreement — express or implied — to share property or provide support. It’s a real cause of action and a genuinely bad retirement plan: expensive, uncertain litigation against your late partner’s estate. Documents signed while you’re both alive make it unnecessary.

Should unmarried couples own their house in joint tenancy?

Sometimes — joint tenancy passes the house to the survivor automatically, outside probate. But it has real downsides: it exposes the house to both partners’ creditors, it’s not undoable unilaterally without consequences, and the survivor gets a step-up in tax basis on only the deceased partner’s half. Often a trust does the same job with better tax results and more flexibility. Get advice on your actual numbers before deeding anything.

The bottom line

California gives married couples a thick book of automatic protections and gives unmarried couples a blank page. That’s not a reason to panic — it’s a reason to write the page. A trust or will, clean beneficiary designations, a health care directive with HIPAA release, a power of attorney, and a remains designation replace essentially everything the marriage statutes would have done, and you get to decide the terms instead of the Probate Code. If you and your partner have been meaning to get this done, talk to Eric — for most couples it’s one focused project, not an ongoing ordeal.

Sources: Cal. Fam. Code §300; Cal. Fam. Code §308; Cal. Fam. Code §297.5; Cal. Prob. Code §6400 et seq.; Marvin v. Marvin (1976) 18 Cal.3d 660; Cal. Health & Safety Code §§7100, 7100.1.