Do Unmarried Cohabitants Have Inheritance Rights (in Practice) in Denmark?

As a fundamental rule, unmarried cohabitees in Denmark do not succeed to one another’s property under the Danish Inheritance Act (arveloven). Accordingly, cohabitants need to draw up a will in order to inherit from each other. However, various rules in Danish legislation may lead to a situation where an unmarried cohabitant receives assets on the occasion of the other cohabitant’s death. Thus, people in reality experience and understand this as inheritance. In this article, it will be questioned whether unmarried cohabitants have some sort of inheritance rights in Denmark in practice. Especially in relation to insurance and pensions, an unmarried cohabitant holds an advantageous position in Denmark, and the main focus of this article is therefore this topic. However, two other related legal areas will be mentioned briefly. The article concludes that there is no one clear or simple answer to the question – and some politicolegal reflections on the legal effects of the legislation on this area are made.