Estate Planning for Unmarried Couples in Illinois

Estate planning for unmarried couples in Illinois matters because Illinois intestacy law does not include partners. Under 755 ILCS 5/2-1, an estate with no will passes to a spouse, descendants, parents, siblings, and then more distant relatives. A partner is not on that list. Only documents you sign can change that outcome.

Key Takeaways

• Illinois intestacy law never lists an unmarried partner.
• Illinois has not recognized new common law marriages since 1905.
• Without a signed health care POA, your partner ranks seventh.
• A deed says “tenancy in common” unless it says otherwise.
• Beneficiary designations pass outside your will entirely.

You have been together fifteen years, you own the condo together, and you have never gotten around to the paperwork. Most people put it off until something forces it. Illinois law runs on signed documents, so cohabiting couple estate planning is one area where what you intended does not count for much.

On this page

1. Who inherits without a will
2. Common law marriage
3. Medical decisions
4. The core documents
5. Titling your home
6. Designations, wills, and trusts
7. FAQs

Does an Unmarried Partner Inherit Anything in Illinois?

No. An unmarried partner inherits nothing automatically in Illinois, no matter how long you have lived together or whose name is on the mortgage. Intestacy is the legal term for dying without a will, and the intestacy rules decide where your property goes when you have not said so yourself.

Illinois’ intestacy statute, 755 ILCS 5/2-1 of the Illinois Probate Act of 1975, directs an estate to a surviving spouse and descendants, then parents and siblings, then grandparents, then great-grandparents, then the nearest kindred, and finally escheats real estate to the county and personal property to the State. An unmarried partner is not named anywhere in the section.

Every rung of that ladder is a relationship created by marriage, birth, or adoption. A partner of twenty years sits outside all of them, and a brother you last saw at a funeral sits inside. For the order in full, what Illinois intestacy rules actually say walks through it.

Does Illinois Recognize Common Law Marriage?

No, and it has not for over a century. Under the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, “Common law marriages contracted in this State after June 30, 1905 are invalid.” (750 ILCS 5/214)

There is no seven-year rule, and no ten-year version either. Living together, sharing a last name socially, raising children: in Illinois none of that adds up to a marriage, and none of it gives you the inheritance rights a spouse would have.

The myth does damage because it sounds reasonable, so couples who believe it skip the will and the powers of attorney.

What a Cook County domestic partnership registration does and doesn’t do

The Cook County Clerk provides a Domestic Partnership Affidavit. Both people must certify that they are 18 or older, both unmarried, share a common household, live in Cook County or are employed within Cook County, and are in a close and committed relationship of mutual financial and emotional support.

Registration can matter for practical things like some employer benefit programs. It does not rewrite the inheritance statute. Domestic partners do not appear on the 755 ILCS 5/2-1 list, so a registered partner still takes nothing by default.

Civil unions are different in Illinois

A civil union sits in a different category. Under the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, a party to a civil union in Illinois is entitled to “the same legal obligations, responsibilities, protections, and benefits as are afforded or recognized by the law of Illinois to spouses.” (750 ILCS 75/20)

What counts is the paperwork rather than the years. Couples across the North Shore mix the two up constantly, and usually discover it in a hospital corridor.

Can My Partner Make Medical Decisions for Me in Illinois?

Your partner can make medical decisions for you in Illinois only if you signed a health care power of attorney naming them. That document appoints someone, called your health care agent, to speak for you when you cannot.

Under the Illinois Health Care Surrogate Act, when a patient lacks decisional capacity the provider must first make a reasonable inquiry into whether a health care agent is available under a power of attorney; the surrogate list applies only if no agent is available. (755 ILCS 40/25(a))

On the Illinois surrogate decision-maker list, the order is: guardian of the person, spouse, adult son or daughter, either parent, adult brother or sister, adult grandchild, close friend, guardian of the estate, then a temporary custodian under the Juvenile Court Act. A “close friend” ranks seventh. (755 ILCS 40/25(a))

Seventh is where an unmarried partner lands, behind a parent, an adult sibling, and an adult grandchild the patient may barely know.

One signed document reorders the list. The statute sends the provider looking for a health care agent before it ever reaches the surrogate ranking, so naming your partner as your agent moves them from seventh to first. Our Illinois power of attorney guide covers how the document gets set up, and how a living will differs from a healthcare POA sorts out the one people confuse it with.

The Core Documents Every Unmarried Illinois Couple Should Consider

Unmarried couple estate planning in Illinois comes down to a short stack of documents. Each one does a job Illinois law will not do by default.

• A will decides who receives your probate property. Without one, the statute hands it to relatives.
• A health care power of attorney names your partner as your health care agent, so a provider never reaches the surrogate list.
• A power of attorney for property lets your partner handle money and legal matters if you cannot. No default rule gives them that authority.
• Beneficiary designations control retirement accounts and insurance directly: the form on file with the company names who receives the money.
• The deed controls the house. How you hold title decides what happens to it, and the deed’s own wording is what counts.
• A revocable living trust holds assets for the people you name, and you can change it during your lifetime. Whether you need one depends on what you own.

None of these documents ask how long you have been together. They only work if you sign them. Our Illinois estate planning services page walks through what building a plan involves.

If you are not sure which of these documents you already have, a planning session is the fastest way to find out.

How You Title Your Home Changes Everything

For most unmarried couples the home is the biggest thing they own together, and the deed already answers what happens to it. Under the Illinois Joint Tenancy Act, a conveyance of land to two or more people is deemed to be in tenancy in common unless the instrument expressly declares that the premises pass not in tenancy in common but in joint tenancy. (765 ILCS 1005/1)

Tenancy in common means each owner holds a separate share that passes through their own estate at death. Joint tenancy with right of survivorship means the surviving owner takes the whole property automatically.

Picture a couple who bought a condo near downtown Evanston, Illinois and split the down payment evenly. The deed says nothing about survivorship, so they own it as tenants in common. When one dies without a will, that half share does not pass to the survivor. It follows the intestacy statute to the deceased owner’s relatives, who co-own the home with someone they may have met twice.

Go find your deed and read the ownership line. It takes two minutes and answers what most couples have been guessing at for years.

Beneficiary Designations, Wills, and When a Trust Makes Sense

Different property answers to different documents, and partner inheritance in Illinois depends on all of them agreeing.

Beneficiary designations operate on their own. Retirement accounts and life insurance pass to whoever is named on the form, not whoever is named in your will. An outdated form is a common way a plan fails, and it fails invisibly: the will itself looks fine.

A will covers whatever the designations and the deed do not. It is also the only document that puts your partner on a list the statute left them off, which is why it does more work for an unmarried couple than for a married one.

Whether you need a trust is a question of fit. Privacy matters to some couples. Others own property in a second state, or want something that keeps running if one partner can no longer manage money. Plenty do fine with a will and careful titling. Our guide to choosing between a will and a trust lays out that call.

Frequently asked questions