If you die without a will, your unmarried partner inherits nothing. This is not a harsh interpretation or a worst case. It is the plain effect of the Intestate Succession Act, the law that decides who inherits when there is no will. That Act lists spouses, children, parents and other blood relatives in a fixed order of priority. A cohabiting partner is nowhere on the list: not last, not reduced, simply absent. However long you have lived together, however entwined your lives, the default rules do not see your partner at all.

That is the blunt point, and everything else in this article follows from it. For an unmarried couple, protecting each other is not automatic and cannot be assumed. It has to be done deliberately, through a handful of instruments. The good news is that those instruments are well understood and, for most people, straightforward.

Why the law gives your partner nothing

When someone dies without a valid will, they are said to die intestate, and the Intestate Succession Act decides where the estate goes. Whoever administers the estate applies to court for a grant of letters of administration and then distributes it according to that Act’s fixed order: to a surviving spouse and children first, then to parents, siblings and more distant relatives if there are no closer ones.

Marriage is the connecting fact the Act relies on for a partner. It has no concept of a long-term cohabiting relationship, a fiancé, or a partner of many years. So the person who shared the deceased’s home and life takes nothing under these rules, while a distant relative the deceased may barely have known could inherit the lot.

At the far end, if there is genuinely no one entitled under the intestacy rules at all, the estate can pass to the state as ownerless property, a fate that reaches the government before it reaches a surviving partner. We explain that outcome in our note on estates with no heirs. It is worth knowing simply because it shows how completely the default rules overlook a partner: the state ranks ahead of them.

A will is the entire answer

There is one instrument that overrides all of this, and it is a will. A valid will lets you leave your estate to whoever you choose, including a partner the intestacy rules would otherwise ignore entirely. It is the single most important thing an unmarried couple can do for each other, and for most people it is not complicated or expensive.

Without a will, the law decides and your partner loses. With one, you decide. If you take nothing else from this article, take this: if you want your partner to inherit from you, you must write a will, because nothing else will get them there. Our guide to writing a will in Singapore sets out how to do it properly, and the mistakes that can make a will fail.

Both partners should make one. A will only governs your own estate, so protecting each other means each of you writing your own.

The assets a will does not touch

Here is where even people who make a will go wrong. A will does not govern everything you own. Several major assets pass outside it by their own separate mechanisms, and if you leave those to the default position, your will’s gift to your partner can be quietly undone.

CPF savings pass by nomination

Your CPF savings do not pass under your will. They pass according to your CPF nomination, made with the CPF Board. If you have made no nomination, your CPF is distributed under a separate default process, and an unmarried partner is not favoured by it. So a will leaving everything to your partner does nothing for your CPF. You must make a CPF nomination naming them separately. Because CPF is often one of the largest things a younger person owns, this matters enormously for unmarried couples, and we cover the mechanics in our companion guide on CPF nomination types.

Jointly owned property passes by survivorship

How you own property together decides what happens to it, independently of your will. If you and your partner hold a property as joint tenants, the survivor automatically becomes the sole owner when one of you dies; this is survivorship, and it happens outside the will. If you hold as tenants in common, each of you owns a distinct share that passes under your own will or, if there is none, the intestacy rules.

For an unmarried couple this is a powerful lever. Holding the home as joint tenants is one of the few ways a partner inherits automatically without relying on a will at all. But it is a deliberate choice you have to make and check, not a default. The difference, and how to find out and change which one you have, is set out in our guide to joint tenancy versus tenancy in common.

Protecting each other in life, not just death

Inheritance is only half the risk. The other half is incapacity, meaning what happens if one of you is alive but unable to make decisions, after an accident or a serious illness.

An unmarried partner has no automatic authority to make decisions for you if you lose mental capacity. They cannot simply step in to manage your finances or be heard on your medical care. A Lasting Power of Attorney fixes this. It lets you appoint your partner, while you still have capacity, to act for you on your welfare and your property and affairs if you later cannot. Without it, your partner may have to go to court to be appointed, and even then may not be the one chosen. Our guide to the Lasting Power of Attorney in Singapore explains how to set one up.

For an unmarried couple, the LPA belongs in the same conversation as the will. One protects your partner if you die; the other protects them, and lets them protect you, if you are incapacitated. You need both.

The checklist for an unmarried couple

Put together, protecting an unmarried partner comes down to four deliberate steps, none of which happens on its own:

  • Write a will, the only way your partner inherits your general estate.
  • Make a CPF nomination naming your partner, because CPF ignores your will.
  • Check how you own property together: joint tenancy passes to the survivor automatically; tenancy in common does not.
  • Make a Lasting Power of Attorney, so your partner can act for you if you lose capacity.

This is part of a wider pattern in which the law offers unmarried couples far less than most people assume, explored across our guide to the rights of unmarried couples in Singapore. The pattern is consistent: what marriage gives automatically, an unmarried couple must arrange for themselves. If you would like help putting these documents in place, we can connect you with a licensed Singapore law practice through our contact page.