{"id":57265,"date":"2024-05-03T16:59:27","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T20:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/?post_type=publications-page&#038;p=57265"},"modified":"2025-12-04T10:50:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T15:50:44","slug":"if-your-partner-dies","status":"publish","type":"publications-page","link":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/if-your-partner-dies","title":{"rendered":"If your partner dies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Common-law partners do <strong>not<\/strong> inherit any of their partner&#8217;s property unless it was left to them in a valid will. If your common-law partner dies without leaving a valid will, the <strong>intestacy rules<\/strong> give their children and others the right to inherit property, not you.<\/p>\n<p>So if you&#8217;re in a common-law relationship, both of you must make a will if you want each other to inherit your property when you die.<\/p>\n<h2>Joint property<\/h2>\n<p>If your partner dies, you usually become the sole owner of any money or property that you both owned jointly. Joint property is not affected by a will or the intestacy rules.<\/p>\n<p>You also inherit life insurance money and registered investments if those assets list you as a <strong>beneficiary<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Other benefits<\/h2>\n<p>There are some <strong>government benefits<\/strong> like CPP survivor&#8217;s pension and CPP funeral and death expenses that you may be able to get if your partner dies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-57265","publications-page","type-publications-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>If your partner dies - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/if-your-partner-dies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"If your partner dies - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Common-law partners do not inherit any of their partner&#8217;s property unless it was left to them in a valid will. If your common-law partner dies without leaving a valid will, the intestacy rules give their children and others the right to inherit property, not you. 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If your common-law partner dies without leaving a valid will, the intestacy rules give their children and others the right to inherit property, not you. 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