Do common law partners inherit in Ontario
No. In Ontario a common law partner has no automatic right to inherit when their partner dies without a will, however long they lived together and whether or not they had children. Only a legally married spouse receives the preferential share. Ontario differs from British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan on this, which is why so many people have it wrong.
- First $350,000Married spouse
- No automatic shareCommon law partner
- Married spouseFirst $350,000The preferential share, then a share of the remainder alongside any children.
- Common law partnerNo automatic shareNo qualifying period exists. Twenty years together changes nothing on an intestacy.
- Other provincesDifferentBC, Alberta and Saskatchewan recognise a qualifying common-law or adult interdependent partner. Ontario does not.
The rule, stated plainly
Ontario's Succession Law Reform Act uses the word spouse to mean a married spouse when it decides who inherits on an intestacy. A common law partner is not included. There is no number of years that changes it, no test you can pass, and no distinction made for couples who own a home together or who have raised children together.
This is one of the few places where the law is genuinely counterintuitive. Common law partners have rights in Ontario in other areas, including support, so people reasonably assume inheritance works the same way. It does not.
Why so many people in Peel get this wrong
Two reasons, and both are common in this community. The first is that other provinces are different: someone who spent twenty years in Calgary or Vancouver before moving here is remembering a rule that was true where they used to live.
The second is that the phrase common law is used loosely in conversation to mean a serious long-term relationship. In an Ontario estate it has a specific and narrow meaning, and the gap between the everyday sense and the legal one is where families get hurt.
What a surviving partner can actually do
A surviving common law partner is not without options. They may be able to bring a claim against the estate for support as a dependant, and there are other routes depending on what was owned jointly and what was promised.
Every one of those routes is a legal process. It costs money, it takes months, it is decided by a judge rather than by what the couple intended, and it happens during the worst weeks of somebody's life. Compared to a will, it is an extraordinarily expensive way to arrive at the same place, and it is not certain to arrive there at all.
What actually fixes it
A will is the main thing, and it is drawn up by a lawyer. It is the only document that makes your intentions binding on an Ontario estate, and for an unmarried couple it is not optional in any meaningful sense.
Alongside it, two things are worth checking the same week, because they are quick and they carry a surprising amount of weight. Beneficiary designations on registered accounts and insurance policies pass directly to the person named, outside the estate, and they are often years out of date. And how a home is held, jointly or otherwise, decides what happens to it immediately.
Those are the parts of the picture a planner works on, alongside the lawyer who writes the will. It is usually less work than people expect and it removes the entire problem.
What people ask next
How long do you have to live together to be common law in Ontario?
Different laws use different periods, commonly three years, or less where there is a child together. None of it creates an automatic right to inherit on an intestacy, which is the point people most often miss.
We own the house together. Does my partner get it?
It depends how the title is held. Joint tenancy with right of survivorship generally passes to the survivor outside the estate; tenancy in common does not, and that share falls into the estate and follows the intestacy rules. It is worth knowing which one you have, and most people do not.
Does having children together change the inheritance rules?
Not for the partner. The children inherit as children regardless of whether their parents married. The surviving partner still has no automatic entitlement.
Is a common law partner entitled to a survivor pension?
Often yes, and this is where the confusion comes from. Pension and benefit plans, including CPP, frequently do recognise a common law partner. Those are separate schemes with their own definitions, and qualifying under one of them does not create any right to inherit the estate.
Where these figures come from
Checked 28 August 2026
- Succession Law Reform Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.26: the intestacy provisions apply to a married spouse.
- O. Reg. 121/21 amending O. Reg. 54/95: preferential share of $350,000 for deaths on or after 1 March 2021.
Ehsan Khandaker is a licensed financial and estate planner, CLU and CHS. He is not a lawyer and does not draft documents. This page is general information about Ontario rules, not guidance about your own situation, and a will is drawn up by a lawyer.
If you are not married and you have not written anything down, this is the one worth moving on. Twenty minutes, no charge, and you will know exactly where you stand.