Cohabiting in Switzerland: Inheritance, Pension & Tax

You live together, split the rent, maybe a car, maybe even kids – only the marriage certificate is missing. In everyday life that makes no difference. In an emergency it does. Because the moment one of you dies or has a serious accident, Swiss law treats you like two strangers who happen to share a roof. No widow's pension, no automatic right to inherit, and in the worst case a tax bill of up to half of what you leave each other.

The good news: you can close almost all of these gaps with a few deliberate decisions. In this guide we show you the five levers that really matter – and the order in which to pull them.

Why cohabitation is a legal gap

Marriage and registered partnership come with a whole package of automatic protection in Switzerland: statutory inheritance rights, an AHV widow's pension, survivors' benefits from the pension fund, tax privileges when inheriting. Cohabitation, by contrast, barely exists in the eyes of the law. There is no legal definition, no automatic entitlements and no built-in protection.

In other words: what happens by itself for married couples, you as a cohabiting couple have to arrange actively yourselves. Anyone who doesn't risks leaving the surviving partner empty-handed – while the savings go to relatives they may barely be in touch with. Let's work through the five building sites one by one.

1st pillar (AHV): no widow's pension. Full stop.

Let's start with the most uncomfortable truth: your partner gets nothing from the AHV if you die. The survivors' pension of the first pillar is paid by the state exclusively to spouses and registered partners. How long you were together, whether 5 years or 35, makes no difference.

Shared children do receive an orphan's pension, but the surviving partner does not get a single franc. This gap cannot be "repaired" directly. You can only plan around it: any couple that depends on one income should cushion the loss with a term life insurance policy and their own assets (more on that below). What matters is that you know about this zero payout instead of relying on it in an emergency.

2nd pillar (pension fund): only those registered get anything

The pension fund is where the biggest money is at stake – and at the same time the place where most cohabiting couples fall through the cracks. Because the fund only pays a survivor's benefit to your partner if two conditions are met:

1. Your pension fund's regulations actually provide for cohabiting partners. Many do, but not all. That's the first thing you need to check.
2. You registered your partner in writing during your lifetime. Almost all funds require an explicit beneficiary declaration, often with conditions such as at least 5 years of a shared household or a common child.

The classic mistake goes like this: the couple assumes "that's surely taken care of". Then one person has an accident – and the fund pays nothing because no form was ever filled in. Many funds explicitly no longer accept a registration after death.

What to do concretely: ask your pension fund for the regulations and the "cohabiting partner beneficiary" form, fill it in, send it off and keep a copy. It takes twenty minutes and can secure six-figure amounts.

Pillar 3a: set the beneficiary designation correctly

For pillar 3a, the law prescribes a fixed order for who receives the balance in the event of death (the beneficiary order under BVV 3 / OPP 3). Simplified, it looks like this:

For you as a cohabiting couple this means: your partner can absolutely receive the money, but only under the 5-year condition or if you have common children – and they land in the second group, on a par with your children.

The decisive step: notify your 3a provider in writing that your partner should be a beneficiary. Whether VIAC, finpension, frankly or the 3a account at your bank – there is a beneficiary form everywhere for this. Without this notification, you risk the provider paying descendants or statutory heirs first. Within the second group you can even adjust the shares, for example if you want to weight your partner and your children differently.

Inheritance law: without a will, your partner inherits nothing

Now for the heart of it. A cohabiting partner has no statutory right to inherit. If you die without a will, your entire estate goes to your statutory heirs: first to your children, if there are none, to your parents, then to your siblings. Your partner, with whom you may have lived for two decades, gets nothing at all.

The solution is a will or an inheritance contract. And here's good news: since the 2023 inheritance law reform you can leave considerably more to your partner than before. The forced share of descendants was cut from three quarters to one half, and the forced share of parents was abolished entirely. That enlarges the "freely disposable portion", meaning the part of your estate you can decide on freely.

A handwritten will (written entirely by hand, dated, signed) is legally sufficient. If you want to secure each other in a binding way, an inheritance contract before a notary is the stronger option, because it cannot be revoked unilaterally.

Inheritance tax: the expensive catch

Even if you name your partner in a will, the next hurdle awaits: inheritance tax. It is regulated at cantonal level, and in most cantons cohabiting partners count as "non-relatives" for tax purposes – that is, as strangers, at the highest rate. Depending on the canton, that can be 20, 30 or in extreme cases almost 50 percent of the inherited assets.

But there are big differences you should know about:

The figures show it: where you live co-determines how much of your savings actually reaches your partner. Check the rules of your canton specifically before you plan. And factor the possible tax into your protection strategy – which is exactly what the next lever is for.

Home ownership: whose name is in the land register?

If you buy an apartment or a house together, the most important question is: whose name is in the land register? If only one person is registered, the property belongs to their estate in the event of death – and passes to the statutory heirs. The surviving partner then has no automatic claim and, in the worst case, has to move out.

So: register both of you as co-owners and record the shares (for example, half each, or in proportion to your contributions). Who contributed how much to the equity, the amortisation and the upkeep belongs in a cohabitation agreement – otherwise unnecessary disputes arise on separation or death. Keep in mind, too, that with a joint mortgage you are usually both jointly liable.

Term life insurance: liquidity for the emergency

The fifth lever solves several of the previous problems in one go: a pure term life insurance policy. With a policy in the free provision (pillar 3b) you can freely decide who receives the payout in the event of death – including your cohabiting partner.

Why this is so useful: the sum insured creates liquidity exactly when it is missing. With it, your partner can pay the inheritance tax, keep servicing the mortgage and stay in your shared home instead of having to sell it. Especially when your wealth sits mainly in the property, such a policy prevents a forced sale. For young, healthy people the premiums are often surprisingly low.

Practical tip: the cohabitation agreement as the foundation

A cohabitation agreement does not create inheritance rights (for that you need the will), but it is the foundation everything else builds on. In it, you record who owns what, who bears which costs and what happens on separation. That sounds unromantic, but it saves a lot of trouble and expensive disputes in an emergency.

Bonus tip: set up a shared "emergency folder" – digital or physical. It should contain the will, the beneficiary forms from your pension fund and pillar 3a, the insurance policies, the land register extract and a list of important access details. Review the documents every three to five years, and always after major events such as buying a property or the birth of a child. Because protection only helps if it is up to date.

Conclusion: start today with the cheapest step

As a cohabiting couple, the law does not protect you by itself – but you can close almost every gap. The AHV zero payout can only be planned around; everything else can be actively arranged: pension fund and pillar 3a with a written beneficiary designation, inheritance with a will, the tax trap with a look at your canton and a term life policy, home ownership with both names in the land register.

The best part: the most effective steps are free or cheap. This week, ask your pension fund for the beneficiary form and set the beneficiary designation for your pillar 3a. Two forms, one evening – and in an emergency the surviving partner won't be left empty-handed.