Irish succession law’s bluntest rule: unmarried partners inherit nothing automatically. No legal right share, nothing on intestacy — twenty committed years count for zero by status alone. What exists instead is a redress scheme: the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 lets a qualified cohabitant apply for provision from the estate. Real remedy, precise eligibility, urgent clock — here is the honest map.
The Scheme in Outline
Qualification first: living together as a couple in an intimate and committed relationship for five years — two where there is a child of the relationship — with special rules where a marriage to someone else subsisted. Then the application: provision from the net estate, assessed on the relationship’s duration and nature, contributions financial and otherwise (the home made, the care given, the earnings forgone), your circumstances and what the deceased provided or didn’t — balanced against the estate’s other legitimate claims. And the clock: months from the grant, in the same unforgiving family as section 117’s six — the deadline analysis is this week’s task, not this season’s.
Time limits in estate disputes are among the strictest in Irish law — a section 117 claim must be brought within six months of the grant issuing, and the court cannot extend it. Other claims run on their own clocks, some short, some with extensions. Never assume you are out of time, and never assume you have time: take advice promptly. Nothing on this page is legal advice for your situation.
The Doors Around the Scheme
Redress is rarely the only analysis: proprietary estoppel runs independently where promises were relied on to your detriment — “this house will always be yours” followed by years of contribution is its own case; beneficial ownership questions (whose money built or maintained the home, whatever the deeds say) can establish property rights that never depended on the will; and a will or valid cohabitation agreement, where either exists, reframes everything and needs reading rather than remembering. On intestacy the redress scheme is frequently the cohabitant’s only door — which is exactly why its clock deserves the urgency this page keeps repeating.
This Week, Not This Season
The sequence: establish whether a grant has issued and when (public record, a day’s work); test qualification against your actual dates; map redress, estoppel and ownership together, because they interact. All of it fits one confidential conversation — and none of it survives a deadline nobody checked.
Partner Died - and You're Not in the Will?
Eligibility, the clock, and every door around the scheme - mapped this week, because this is the field where waiting costs everything.
Call 01 5827148Related Reading
Cohabitant Rights - FAQs
About the Author
Richard O’Shea, Solicitor, TEP practises with Mary Molloy Solicitors (established 1981) in probate, will disputes and estate litigation throughout Ireland. Richard is a qualified Trust and Estate Practitioner (STEP) — the international specialist credential for wills, trusts and estates — and holds a Diploma in Mediation from the Law Society of Ireland, a pairing built for exactly this work: specialist estates expertise, and the means to keep families out of war where that is still possible. Contact Richard on 01 5827148 or richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Every estate and family situation is different, and time limits in this area are strictly applied - obtain advice on your own circumstances before acting or deciding not to act. We do not advise on tax; taxation questions should be directed to your accountant and Revenue’s published guidance. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.