Marriage and money

When it comes to finances, there are some important differences between marriages/civil partnerships, and unmarried couples.

Our ten-minute tutor looks at how your marital status can affect your financial arrangements.

Before you begin: Be aware of the law
Many people believe that living with a partner for a long time gives them the same financial and property rights as a married couple. However, this is not true. Married couples and, since 2005, same-sex couples who enter civil partnership, have rights and responsibilities that unmarried couples don't have.

For example:
- Husbands, wives and civil partners have a responsibility to financially support each other even if they split up
- They can receive bereavement benefits if their partner or spouse dies
- They have the right to automatically inherit a proportion of the other's assets if one dies and there is no will

Married or not, it's important to be aware of your financial rights and responsibilities.

Step 1: Be tax aware
The Married Couple's Tax Allowance was abolished in 2000 (except for people born before April 6 1935), and people are now taxed separately, whether they are married or not. However, there are some tax advantages for married couples and those in civil partnerships:

Capital gains tax
Married couples and those in civil partnerships can transfer assets such as property and shares between each other completely tax-free. Married couples can also effectively double their capital gains tax exemption by adding their allowances together

Inheritance tax
If you are married and one of you dies, your spouse or civil partner doesn't pay tax on what's left to them

Step 2: Compare pensions
Precise rules vary, but generally speaking, husbands and wives inherit pension benefits if their spouse dies. Pension rights can also be split between husbands and wives if they divorce.

Civil partners have the same rights as married couples in relation to state and occupational pension benefits.

Married women are entitled to a pension based on their husband's National Insurance contributions and husbands and civil partners will get the right to a pension based on their wife's or partner's contributions if they retire after 2010.

Unmarried couples will often find that they are not entitled to the pension benefits given to spouses or civil partners. If you're living together but not married, it's very important to make sure that you and your partner name each other as the person you want to benefit from the policy.

Step 3: Choose the right mortgage
Married people or civil partners will often have some rights over the matrimonial assets, including property, should the relationship come to an end. Like a married person, a non-owing civil partner can't be evicted from the matrimonial home without a court's permission.

However, if you are not married, you usually need to jointly own a property in order to have a legal share in it. If you don't, you may have considerable difficulties in making a claim on it if your relationship ends, no matter how long you've lived there.

Whether married or not, it's important to decide on how you want to own the property and be aware of what the financial implications would be if you were to part.

Step 4: Get insured
It's possible for married and unmarried couples to buy separate life insurance policies, but it might be cheaper to buy a joint policy which pays out if you or your spouse or partner dies within the term (the agreed period of the policy).

An option available for married couples or civil partners is taking out a life-of-another policy on your spouse or partner, which pays if one of you dies. To have this sort of policy, you need to prove that you have an insurable interest in the person whose life you are insuring, and married couples and civil partners are assumed to have this.

Step 5: Consider your accounts
Money in joint accounts belongs to the survivor if one partner in a marriage or civil partnership dies. Both holders are responsible for any debts incurred.

Married and unmarried couples can't access their partners' separate accounts without permission, but if you are married, your spouse may be able to access your account if you die. If you are unmarried or not in a civil partnership and one of you dies, the money in their account can't be used until the estate is settled.