We were together for 25 years but never married. He has died. Do I get anything?
Your co-pilot in inheritance law
Mag. Nevena Shotekova-Zöchling
Attorney in Vienna · 16 years of legal practice · Inheritance law
Twenty-five years are not a marriage certificate. But they are not nothing either.
“But we were as good as married”
For twenty-five years they live together, in his flat. They never marry. “What for? We know what we have in each other.” There is no will either. “There is time for that.”
In his last year he falls ill. She cares for him, day after day, until the end.
After his death, his brother comes forward. He is the statutory heir. The flat now belongs to him – and he wants to sell it. As soon as possible.
Twenty-five years are not a marriage certificate. But they are not nothing either.
She cannot inherit alongside the brother. But she does not have to move out overnight: after three years in a shared household she may stay in the flat for one year, and the household contents are hers. And her care in the last year has a value: she is entitled to a care legacy from the estate.
This is how such cases often end: with these rights behind you, you negotiate an agreement. Time to move, the household contents and a payment for the care – instead of an eviction notice.
The lesson: the law does not leave cohabiting partners completely out in the rain. But it only gives them an umbrella, not a roof. You build the roof with a will.
What you are entitled to as a cohabiting partner
- No right to inherit alongside relatives: if there are children, parents, siblings, grandparents or their descendants, they inherit. You do not.
- No compulsory share: you cannot challenge a will in favour of others simply because you were left out.
- One year’s right to live in the home and the household contents (section 745 of the Austrian Civil Code, ABGB): if you lived in a shared household during the last three years before death and the deceased was not married.
- Care legacy (section 677 ABGB): if you cared for him without payment to a significant extent for at least six months during the last three years.
- Extraordinary right of inheritance (section 748 ABGB): if there are no statutory heirs at all, you inherit everything, provided you lived in a shared household with him during the last three years. Otherwise the estate would go to the state.
What you can do during your lifetime
- A will: you can leave each other everything that is not reserved as a compulsory share for children. Without children, that really means everything – parents and siblings have had no compulsory share since 2017.
- Joint ownership of a flat: as owner-partners of a flat, the share can pass to the other partner on death – but this needs careful preparation.
- Beneficiary designation for insurance: life insurance policies do not form part of the estate if a beneficiary is named.
- Marriage or a registered partnership: the simplest solution – if it suits you.
What to do now if it has already happened
- Do not move out hastily. Your one-year right to live in the home applies by law.
- Document the care and register the care legacy in the probate proceedings.
- Have a search made for a will: the notary checks the central will register. Perhaps he did make provision after all.
Not married, but together for a lifetime?
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