Fewer couples are getting married. Alongside the emotional advantages, marriage can also bring legal and tax benefits, as well as other financial gains.
The trend is moving away from marriage, yet tying the knot may still improve a couple's financial position.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recorded 224,402 marriages in England and Wales in 2023, compared with 246,897 the year before.
The gap becomes sharper over five decades: 400,435 marriages took place in 1973.
Analysis from the Centre for Social Justice shows that marriage among young people has fallen sharply.
In 2026, only 2% of men are married by age 25, compared with 62% 50 years earlier. Among women aged 25, the figure fell from 82% to 4% over the same period.
Meanwhile, men at today's state pension age are more likely to say "I do" than men in their early twenties.
Marriage can offer clear emotional benefits, but it may also bring substantial advantages under the law and in tax and financial matters.
Alice Haine, head of personal finance at investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown, said married couples and civil partners can access tax advantages that unmarried couples cannot.
As more people pay tax on their savings and investments, she added, using those advantages matters.
Combining your ISA allowance
Marriage lets you combine your annual ISA allowances, creating a significant financial advantage.
Every year, anyone aged 18 or over may place up to 20,000 into an ISA. Short for Individual Savings Account, it is a tax-efficient wrapper that lets you save or invest without paying income tax or capital gains tax.
You can't open a joint ISA. Married couples who plan carefully, though, can work together to put as much as 40,000 into ISAs each year - effectively doubling their combined allowance.
For instance, if your partner has not used their annual allowance - once the year ends, any unused amount disappears - but you have already saved 20,000, you can transfer part of that money into their account before the allowance is lost.
Anyone - married or not - can pay money into another person's account. But if an unmarried couple separates, recovering those funds may be difficult, leaving the person who paid them at greater risk.
If you die, your spouse can receive an additional permitted subscription (APS) equal to the value of your ISA when you died. This gives them extra ISA allowance.
Ben Glassman, head of family and managing partner at wealth management firm Evelyn Partners, said the extra ISA allowance generally reflects the value of the deceased's ISA holdings. It is available alongside the survivor's own annual ISA allowance.
This may let a surviving spouse or civil partner keep the tax-efficient treatment attached to assets inherited from the deceased's ISA. An unmarried partner does not receive the same benefit.
Other tax-free allowances you can share
Once your ISA allowance is full, tax may apply to other savings and investments - but only after you pass the relevant threshold. Married couples can also share these allowances between them.
Before examining the tax breaks available to married couples, here are the general rules:
Dividends: Tax becomes due on dividend income above the annual allowance of 500. The same applies to capital gains: once your gains exceed the 3,000 allowance, you pay tax on the profit from selling an asset. Savings income works differently. Basic-rate taxpayers can earn 1,000 in savings interest before tax applies; for higher-rate taxpayers, the personal savings allowance is 500. Additional-rate taxpayers receive no personal savings allowance. Married couples who have already used their allowances may benefit from putting some assets in the other partner's name.
This should lower your total tax bill. Since you're married, the transfer also won't be treated as a gift for inheritance tax purposes.
The rules are less straightforward for unmarried couples. Gifts may trigger additional tax rules, especially if you give them within seven years of your death.
The marriage allowance
In the UK, most people can earn up to 12,570 before paying income tax. This is their personal allowance, and tax applies only to income above that amount. The full allowance remains available until income reaches 100,000; after that, it gradually decreases.
But HMRC also rewards the institution of marriage through the tax system.
Married couples may transfer part of one partner's unused personal allowance to the other, depending on their incomes. Known as the marriage tax allowance, this is available only when the higher earner pays the basic rate of tax, with an income between 12,570 and 50,270.
The maximum amount that can be transferred between partners is 1,260.
Income from a buy-to-let property
If you own a buy-to-let property with your partner and fall into different income tax bands, transferring ownership to the lower earner may reduce the tax due on the rental income.
If any personal allowance remains, they can apply it to income from the house. Any property income left after that will be taxed at a lower rate.
Swipe to scroll horizontally The tax rates listed above will increase in April 2027: the basic rate will rise to 22%, the higher rate to 42%, and the additional rate to 47%.
Marriage is not required to transfer a house into someone else's name. But if you separate without being married, the law offers far less protection.
If you transfer the house to an unmarried partner as a "gift" and die within seven years, it could trigger a substantial inheritance tax bill.
Protecting your estate and minimising inheritance tax
You can leave assets worth up to 325,000 to your loved ones without triggering inheritance tax (IHT). This allowance is known as the nil-rate band. Anything above 325,000 may be taxed at 40%.
When an unmarried couple owns a home together, the surviving partner may face an inheritance tax bill if the deceased partner's share exceeds 325,000. Without enough cash to pay it, selling the family home may be the only option.
Married couples can leave an estate to one another without triggering inheritance tax immediately. Any unused nil-rate band can also transfer to the surviving spouse for future use.
If your estate is valued below 2 million and your main home goes to your children, stepchildren, or other direct descendants such as grandchildren, you may qualify for an additional tax-free allowance: the residence nil-rate band. It is worth 175,000, and married couples can combine their allowances.
Together, the allowances total 1 million (325,000 + 325,000 + 175,000 + 175,000), meaning a married couple could theoretically pass an estate of that value to their children without paying tax.
Using those allowances matters even more because unused pensions will become part of estates from April 2027.
Glassman said that from 6 April 2027, most unspent pension funds and death benefits will be subject to inheritance tax, making it even more valuable to pass assets to a spouse or civil partner free of IHT.
"For families with significant pension wealth, the spousal exemption may offer one of the clearest ways to avoid an immediate IHT charge when pension assets pass to a surviving spouse."
Nine steps unmarried couples can take to protect themselves
1. Review how your pension and other savings are held
Don't assume your partner's pension will support you. Build savings in your own name. If you separate without being married, they generally have no legal obligation to share their pension with you. You should also both make full use of your ISA allowances.
2. Complete a nomination of beneficiaries form
Most pensions pay your spouse after your death. If you're unmarried, complete an expression of wish form - also known as a nomination form - to request that your pension pass to your partner.
3. Make a will
If you want an unmarried partner to receive any part of your estate after your death, make a legal will. Without one, intestacy rules generally give priority to blood relatives, so your partner may inherit nothing.
4. Write-up a co-habitation agreement
This agreement puts the practical details in writing: who owns what, how you will divide the bills, and what happens if you separate, including financial support for any children.
5. Get on the birth certificate
If the mother dies, the father will automatically have the right to care for the child. If she does not, both parents must complete a parental responsibility agreement before her death.
6. Lifetime gifts could save you tax
A spouse can pass on any amount without inheritance tax, but unmarried partners who live together do not receive that exemption. Lifetime gifts may therefore be worth considering: they can fall outside the estate if they fit the inheritance tax allowances or were made at least seven years before death.
7. Think carefully about how all assets are owned
If you move in together and the home stays in one partner's name, it legally remains that person's property. Should you separate, the other partner could lose everything because you are not married. When both of you contribute to household costs, consider putting the property in both names. If your contributions or ownership shares differ, you can hold it as tenants in common.
Think carefully before taking on debt. If you're both benefiting from the loan, put it in both names. The same applies to joint savings.
8. Get life insurance
You both need enough life insurance to support your children if either of you dies. After separation, the parent living with the children should remain insured; the parent who pays child support should also carry cover that would replace those payments after their death.
9. Build a nest egg for any children
Giving children money in their own savings or investments can help prepare them for the future. A Junior ISA is one sensible choice: the funds remain inaccessible until the child turns 18, then become entirely theirs. Dividends, capital gains, and interest earned in the account are also protected from tax.
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