Life Insurance for Unmarried and Common-Law Couples in Canada

Where the relationship is straightforward, there is just no problem, because there is clear insurable interest: one of you would be worse off financially if the other died. Life insurance for unmarried couples mostly sits in that first group.

In the files I complete, “common law” is one of the marital status choices on the application. Where it gets tricky is where the relationship is not so clear, and it helps to know which side you are on before the application goes in.

Can You Get Life Insurance on a Boyfriend, Girlfriend or Partner in Canada?

Yes, you can get life insurance on a boyfriend, girlfriend or partner in Canada, and you do not have to be married. This is allowed if your partner approves it: they still must sign as the insured, and they have to go through the process and get qualified.

Ultimately it is about showing why there is insurable interest. If this person were to pass away, would the other be impacted? A mortgage in both names answers that. So does shared rent, a child, or a household that runs on one income.

The set-up I see most: two policies, each of you owns your own

Two applications, two signatures. Either policy can change later without touching the other.

It can be set up the other way, where you own the policy on your partner or one of you pays for both. On the applications I submit, a partner who is paying has to be disclosed at the time of application and has to sign off. And the owner controls the policy, the payments and the beneficiary. That matters if you ever separate.

Being unmarried does not change eligibility. Marital status is not one of the inputs when I run a quote. Each application comes down to three things:

• Your own age, health history and smoking status
• Your status in Canada: citizen, permanent resident, work permit or visitor
• An amount that makes sense against your income and debts

There is a sequence here, and first and foremost it is based on health. Does health allow a fully underwritten policy, with the full set of medical questions and sometimes a nurse visit? Or do we have to go to a simplified policy, which asks fewer questions and is generally priced higher? Each of you goes through that on your own file. Ultimately they are still independent policies, so the two of you can end up with different insurers if that is where each of you gets the better rate.

Can a Boyfriend or Girlfriend Be Your Life Insurance Beneficiary? What Insurers Ask

Yes, a boyfriend or girlfriend can be your life insurance beneficiary in Canada. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada says you may name a spouse, another family member, a friend or a charity. Underwriting is a separate matter. On my common-law files, partners name each other and nothing more is asked. When there is not a clear relationship there, the insurer wants to know why there is insurable interest, and it can stop the file until it gets an answer.

Here is a real file. In December 2025 a client named his girlfriend as beneficiary. They lived together, but not for long. The application went in, and underwriting came back with four questions before it would go any further.

Every answer was the plain fact. Nothing was reworded to sound closer than it was. Ultimately it is about showing why, if this person were to pass away, the beneficiary would be impacted. That is what’s most important.

Some insurers go further and set their own rule on who a beneficiary can be. On a 2023 file, a case manager at an insurer that sells simplified policies (fewer health questions, generally no nurse visit) put it in writing. The beneficiary had to be the estate or a close family member:

Five real files, clearest relationship first

Look at what cleared the 2023 file. The explanation I sent was that they share a financial responsibility for their children, hence the reason for the insurance. A shared home did the same job on the caregiver file.

These questions are not on the application. They arrive after it is submitted, and each insurer draws the line somewhere different. So if your beneficiary is a partner you have not lived with for long, or an ex, say so before anything goes in. The explanation can travel with the application, and the application can go to an insurer where I have already seen how the question gets handled.

Joint Life Insurance When You Are Not Married: One Policy or Two?

You do not have to be married to buy joint life insurance in Canada. A joint first-to-die policy is one policy with one death benefit, paid when the first of you dies. It is usually more cost-effective than two identical single policies, and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada describes it the same way: usually less expensive, and less flexible if you separate. So be careful setting one up, because it is not always possible to split it later without having to requalify.

Traditionally speaking, it is not a huge difference cost wise from two individual policies. On this 2022 quote, where one partner smoked, the gap was wider. The middle lane is the option most couples have not heard of.

A real quote from September 2022: he was 28 and smoked, she was 27 and did not, $500,000, 25-year term. Those were the rates that day. They are not today’s rates and not an offer.

Multi-life is still one policy. However, you have two death benefits under that policy rather than one. The advantage is that if you wanted to change something on one coverage later, because of a health change or what have you, you do not have to change the entire policy for both of you. You can do it for one. The saving against two separate policies is the second policy fee, typically $4.50 a month.

Not every company will allow a joint first-to-die policy to be split. There are specific options out there where companies will allow this, but it is not the case at all carriers. This is what the product guides I work from say for five of them.

Sharing a policy and splitting it later, by insurer

From each insurer’s advisor product guide on my shelf. Features and time limits change, so confirm them on the day you apply.

Where the coverage was there to clear a mortgage plus some income replacement, I have leaned toward the more cost-effective first-to-die. But that is why a multi-life policy or two individual policies can be attractive. You are getting two death benefits, the premium is a little bit higher, and you have full control.

For the wider picture, the four policy structures for couples are compared side by side, and there is a longer piece on single life versus joint life policies.

What Common-Law Means for Life Insurance, Taxes and Inheritance

Common-law does not have one meaning in Canada. On a life insurance application it is a marital status you select. For income tax it generally starts after 12 continuous months of living together as a couple, or sooner if you have a child together. For inheritance it depends on your province, and in some provinces a common-law partner gets nothing automatically when there is no will.

People hesitate at that question on the application. One client started to say “married”, then “common law, I don’t know”. Answer it as it is. On one file I told the underwriter plainly that the couple had not lived together long enough to be considered common-law. And where the form asks for net worth and you own the home together, split the equity down the middle or put the full value once for the household. It’s the same thing. It’s just the overall family net worth.

No will: does a common-law partner inherit automatically? West to east

General information, not legal advice. These rules change, and other claims can exist, such as support as a dependant in Ontario. A lawyer in your province can confirm how they apply to you. Quebec has its own rules and is outside where we are licensed.

This is why the beneficiary line carries so much weight when you are not married. When a beneficiary is named, the life insurance payout goes to that person directly rather than through the estate, so it does not depend on which of those boxes your province sits in. How a beneficiary designation and a will work together is its own subject. For the rest of what you own, a will is the main way to provide for a common-law partner in Ontario.

For income tax, a common-law partner is treated the same as a spouse once the 12 months are met, or sooner if you have a child together. The death benefit from a life insurance policy is generally received tax-free by the named beneficiary, married or not. An accountant can confirm how that applies to you, and there is more detail in when life insurance is taxable in Canada.

Who to Name as Beneficiary When You Have a Partner, Children or an Ex

Name each person directly, by percentage. You can name your partner for part of the benefit and name the kids as direct beneficiaries for the rest. It is less messy than leaving the money to one adult and trusting it gets passed along.

On a 2025 file, a client who had been common-law for ten years, with two children from her marriage, asked whether the mortgage share should go to her partner and the rest to her ex-husband for the kids. I would name the kids. The reality is, if you name your ex-husband and something happens to you, the money goes to your ex-husband. And that’s that. It is a common question in blended families.

Two real designations from unmarried clients

40% to her common-law partner, roughly the mortgage

60% to her two children, named directly and not through her ex-husband

84% to his fiancée

8% and 8% to his two sons from an earlier relationship

One of the children on that first file was 16. You probably do not want a 16 or 17 year old having access to $600,000 up front. Without a trustee named, the money is generally held in trust by the province or territory until the age of majority, 18 or 19 depending on where you live. I have seen the court take over as trustee, and it is a much longer process. Naming one is a simple thing to add at the time.

Four things to settle in the beneficiary section

• Revocable or irrevocable. A revocable beneficiary can be changed by the owner at any time. An irrevocable one cannot be changed without that person’s written consent, and a child named that way cannot give it. You can choose either. I set it up as revocable unless a separation agreement or court order requires otherwise. A lender’s security is normally handled through a collateral assignment instead.
• A backup beneficiary. Not naming a secondary beneficiary is easily preventable. If you have kids later, they can be added then.
• A trustee for anyone under the age of majority. Simple to add when the policy is set up.
• The estate. The problem with naming it is that if the estate has liabilities or creditors, they can go after the life insurance benefits. And in a province where a common-law partner does not inherit automatically, money that lands in the estate may not reach your partner without a will.

Then check what comes back. On one change I submitted for a client with a new partner, the insurer recorded the designation wrong the first time and it had to be corrected. After that, a designation set up correctly does not normally need touching unless something major happens: a death, a separation, a child born after the policy was set up. That is what a policy review is for.

How Much Life Insurance Unmarried Couples Need and What It Costs

Size the coverage to what your partner would owe and lose if you died, not to a multiple of your salary. On price: a non-smoking couple aged 35 in standard health would pay starting from about $30 a month for him and $22 a month for her, for $500,000 each on a 20-year term, based on current carrier rates.

Standard health class. Based on current carrier rates, illustrative only, subject to underwriting and change.

That first part is known as the needs approach. It is two lists.

• Add up the mortgage or rent your partner would carry alone, debts in either name, final expenses, and the income they would lose for as many years as they would need it.
• Subtract coverage already in force and the savings your partner could actually reach. If you are common-law, check the province boxes above before counting anything that is only in your name.

The two of you do not need the same amount, and the mortgage balance is not always the right number. On a 2026 file the mortgage was in one partner’s name. As he put it, she isn’t on the mortgage, and if he died she would not have his income anymore. So the question was never just the balance.

My concern with her old plan was what that $57 becomes in ten years, because the premium goes up every year. With a level term you are locking in and at least guaranteeing this is your premium for the whole term. His own bank mortgage insurance had been declined for the illness portion, which left accidental death only. A bank’s mortgage insurance is also a declining benefit, and you cannot move lenders and keep that coverage.

On a 2024 call, a common-law couple priced the same coverage at their own bank, where one of them had a customer discount.

The bank figures are from that 2024 call. The broker figure is based on current carrier rates, illustrative only, subject to underwriting and change. The two are two years apart.

That was 10% off a number that was already higher than the market. Going direct to one company gets you one company’s price. There is no bill to clients for comparing: insurance brokers work like mortgage brokers, and the insurance company compensates the broker directly. To work out your own number first, start with how much life insurance you need.

What Happens to Life Insurance If Unmarried Partners Separate

Nothing happens to a life insurance policy automatically when unmarried partners separate. If the coverage is being paid for and it is in force, that continues. Your ex also stays on as beneficiary until the owner of the policy changes it.

What surprises people is who the owner is. Even though you are the insured, if someone else owns the policy you have absolutely no control of it. The owner controls the payment information and the beneficiary changes. There was insurable interest at the time it was set up, and thereafter you simply have no say.

After a split, who controls the policy?

Two real clean-ups. On a 2025 file a client asked to take a former common-law partner and her daughter off his policy. He named no one new, so the benefit went to his estate, and the change was complete 18 days after he asked. On another, the ex came off, the new partner went on as primary, and the three children were named as backups.

If you have just separated

1. Find out who the owner is on every policy. It is not always the person insured.
2. Change the beneficiary. The owner signs, and on a joint policy with two owners, both sign.
3. Name a backup while you are at it. If there is no one yet, the estate is the fallback, with the drawbacks covered above.
4. If the premium now sits on one income, the best option may be looking at reduced coverage. That lowers the premium while still allowing coverage to continue, instead of letting the policy lapse.
5. If you still share children or a mortgage with your ex, coverage can stay in place. A policy already in force continues, and a new one needs their signature as the insured.

I have seen a former daughter-in-law who owned a policy on her ex mother-in-law. At the time the policy was taken out there was insurable interest, and as long as she continues to make the payments it remains in force. It is an odd situation, but these things can happen. If you were married rather than common-law, life insurance after divorce has a few wrinkles of its own.

Questions Unmarried Couples Ask About Life Insurance

Six short answers. Each stands on its own, and the sections above carry the detail.

Getting Coverage in Place When You Are Not Married

Just get the right coverage for now, and then we can always reevaluate. For an unmarried couple that means each of you covered on your own life, the right person named on each policy, and a quick check on who owns what.

Three things to have ready for the first call

• Whether you share a mortgage or rent, and whose name it is in
• Who each of you wants as beneficiary, and in what shares
• How long you have lived together, because that can change which questions an insurer asks and where the application is sent

If one of you has a health concern, we still start with a fully underwritten application and look at no-medical life insurance only if the health history calls for it.