You share a mortgage, two dogs, and a life, but you never signed a marriage license. In Texas, that choice carries serious probate consequences. When one partner dies, the survivor may face costly court battles with distant relatives unless you plan ahead. Understanding how intestacy rules treat unmarried partners helps you protect the person who stays behind.
Texas Intestacy Does Not Recognize Your Partnership
If you die without a will and never established an informal (common-law) marriage, Texas law passes your estate to blood relatives, not your partner. Parents, siblings, and even nieces can inherit ahead of the person who paid half the bills. A properly executed will is the only way to override that statutory hierarchy and keep property where you intend. Waiting until later risks putting your home and savings in the hands of relatives who may not respect your partner’s needs.
Proving or Disproving Common-Law Marriage
Texas lets couples create a marriage without a ceremony if they agree to be married, live together in Texas, and hold themselves out as married. Yet proving those elements after death invites litigation. Old tax returns, joint bank statements, or shared last names may convince a judge, but the process drains money and emotions. You can avoid the uncertainty by signing a simple declaration of informal marriage at the county clerk or by drafting mirror wills that leave everything to each other. Either step removes doubt and shields the survivor from relatives who might challenge the relationship.
Titling Assets to Prevent Probate Battles
Joint tenancy with right of survivorship defeats intestacy for your homestead or bank account, letting the survivor keep the asset outside probate. Payable-on-death designations on checking, savings, and retirement accounts send funds directly to your partner. These simple forms bypass courts entirely and give the survivor immediate liquidity for funeral costs and mortgage payments while probate unfolds. Updating titles now keeps strangers out of your finances later.
Planning for Incapacity Together
If your partner lands in the hospital, HIPAA blocks doctors from sharing information unless you hold a medical power of attorney. Banks also refuse to talk about shared accounts without a statutory durable power of attorney. Drafting these documents as a pair ensures each of you can act if the other becomes disabled, sparing both of you an expensive guardianship proceeding and allowing quick financial decisions during a crisis.
Addressing Social Security and Employer Benefits
Unmarried partners do not receive Social Security survivor benefits, and many employer pensions pay only to legal spouses. Life-insurance proceeds can replace that lost income, but only if you purchase enough coverage and keep beneficiary forms current. Review workplace benefits each open-enrollment season to confirm your partner’s name appears where possible, and supplement with private policies when employer rules will not allow designation.
Dealing with Shared Children or Separate Families
If you have children together, guardianship designations in your wills avoid custody disputes. When only one partner has children from a prior relationship, a revocable living trust can divide assets fairly while providing income for the surviving partner. Balancing love and blood requires clear, written instructions that no court can misinterpret. Without direction, stepchildren could inherit property you both considered joint.
The Cost of Waiting
Without a plan, the surviving partner may pay legal fees to prove common-law marriage or contest relatives’ inheritance claims. Worse, the survivor could lose the home if heirs seek partition. A few hours with an estate-planning attorney costs far less than a drawn-out courtroom fight and preserves the assets you both worked hard to build.
Safeguard the person who shares your life. Reach out to McCulloch & Miller, PLLC at 713-333-8900 and create a probate-proof strategy built for long-term Austin partners today.