Living Together Unmarried in Portugal (União de Facto)

Last verified: September 2026.

Who this is for

• You live with your partner in Portugal, unmarried, and want to know your legal rights.
• You have lived together for about two years and need to prove it to Finanças, Social Security, or AIMA.
• Your unmarried partner has died, or you have separated, and you need to know what you can claim.

Not for you if: you want to marry. Read "Getting Married in Portugal as a Foreigner".

Updated September 2026. Since October 2025, a partner joining a foreign resident through family reunification usually faces a waiting period first.

A de facto union (união de facto) is the legal status of two people who have lived together like a married couple for more than two years. It covers same-sex and opposite-sex couples, including foreigners. There is nothing to sign up for. It exists once the two years pass. It gives you joint tax returns, protection of the family home, and survivor's pensions. It does not make you your partner's heir. You prove it when you need it, usually with a declaration from your parish council.

Do you qualify?

You are in a de facto union if you and your partner have lived together for more than two years in conditions like those of a married couple. That means sharing a home and a life, not just an address.

The law gives you no rights from the union if:

• either of you was under 18 when the union is recognised.
• either of you is married to someone else, unless a court has granted a legal separation of persons and property.
• you are related in a direct line (parent and child, grandparent and grandchild), you are siblings, or one of you is the other's parent-in-law or step-parent.
• one of you was convicted of the intentional killing or attempted killing of the other's spouse.
• a court has ruled that one of you, as an adult under legal protection, cannot form one, or one of you has obvious dementia. This does not apply if it started after the union began.

Time you lived together abroad can count. What matters is that you can prove it.

How to prove it

Nothing is registered at the start, so you prove the union when you claim a right. The law accepts any lawful evidence, unless a specific rule asks for particular documents.

The standard proof has three parts:

1. A declaration from your parish council (junta de freguesia). Go to the council for the area where you live. It confirms how long you have lived together at your address. Each council sets its own requirements and fee, and some ask for witnesses. Ask before you go.
2. A joint sworn statement. You both declare, on your honour, that you have lived in a de facto union for more than two years.
3. Full birth certificates for both of you (certidão de cópia integral). Foreign certificates may need an apostille and a translation, depending on the office that asks for them.

Keep other evidence too. It helps if the office has doubts, or if you ever need to go to court. Useful evidence includes:

• the same tax address with Finanças for both of you.
• a lease or deed in both names.
• utility bills, a joint bank account, or shared insurance.
• your residence permits showing the same address.

Giving false information is a crime.

The rights it gives you

Income tax. You can choose joint taxation on your IRS return, on the same terms as a married couple. If you have had the same tax address for two years and through the tax year, Finanças presumes you are a union. If you lived abroad for part of that time, you can prove a shared address there with documents. Compare joint and separate filing each year, because joint is not always cheaper.

Work. Employees get the same holiday, public holiday, absence, and leave rights as married couples. For example, you can ask to take holidays at the same time, and you can take time off to care for your partner.

Survivor's benefits. If your partner dies, you can claim a survivor's pension (pensão de sobrevivência) and death grant from Social Security or the civil service pension scheme. You can also claim benefits for a death caused by an accident at work or an occupational disease. You do not have to show that you depended on your partner financially. If the paying body doubts the union, it can ask Finanças or the registries for proof of a shared tax address. If doubts remain, it goes to court to settle them.

The family home if you separate. The court can decide which of you keeps the home, or who takes over the lease, using the same rules as for divorcing couples.

The family home if your partner dies. If your partner owned the home, you can stay there for five years. You also keep the use of its contents. If your union lasted more than five years, you can stay for as long as the union lasted. If you co-owned the home, you get these rights in full. A court can extend the period in special cases.

After that, you can stay as a tenant at a market rent. While you live there, you have first refusal if the home is sold. You lose these rights if you already own a home in the same municipality (for Lisbon and Porto, including the neighbouring municipalities). You also lose them if you stop living there for over a year.

If your partner rented the home, the lease can pass to you when they die.

Adoption. Unmarried couples in a de facto union can adopt on terms like those for married couples. The law extended this to same-sex couples in 2016.

Gifts and inheritance tax. You pay no stamp duty (imposto do selo) on what you inherit from your partner or receive from them as a gift. This is the 10% duty that most other heirs pay.

Where it stops short of marriage

• Inheritance. You are not your partner's legal heir. Without a will, you inherit nothing. Your partner can leave you only the part of their estate not reserved for their children, parents, or spouse. See "Inheritance and Wills in Portugal for Foreigners".
• Maintenance from the estate. If you need support after your partner's death, you can claim maintenance from their estate. You must claim within two years of the death.
• Property. There is no shared property regime. What each of you buys stays in that person's name. If you split up, a shared purchase is divided by how much each paid, or by the rules on unjust enrichment. Buy big items in both names and keep records.
• Surnames. You cannot add your partner's surnames to yours.
• Recognition abroad. Other countries may not recognise a union that was never registered. Check the rules in any country you may move to.

Immigration and citizenship

Family reunification. A foreign resident can bring a de facto partner to Portugal through family reunification. The union must be valid and recognised under Portuguese law, and both of you must be 18 or over.

Since October 2025, the resident usually needs two years of residence before applying. If you lived together for 18 months before the resident moved here, it is 15 months. Partners who share a child under 18, and families of some permit holders, are exempt. AIMA, the immigration agency, handles these applications. Read "Applying for Family Reunification in Portugal".

Citizenship. If you have lived in a de facto union with a Portuguese citizen for more than three years, you can apply for Portuguese nationality. Unlike a spouse, you first need a court judgment recognising the union. Read "Becoming a Portuguese Citizen by Naturalisation".

How a union ends

A de facto union ends when:

• one of you dies.
• either of you decides to end it.
• either of you marries, including marrying each other.

There is no divorce. You do not need to file anything. If you later claim a right that depends on the end of the union, the proof is the same as above. You make a sworn statement saying when it ended. If your former partner will not sign, you sign it alone. If it is disputed, a court decides when it ended.

What to do now

1. Put the same address on both your tax records with Finanças.
2. Keep a folder of shared leases, bills, and bank statements.
3. Once you pass two years, ask your parish council what it needs for a declaration.
4. Make wills, if you want your partner to inherit.
5. Decide whether marriage would protect you better. Read "Getting Married in Portugal as a Foreigner".

Sources

• Lei 7/2001, de 11 de maio (Protecção das uniões de facto), consolidated to Lei 71/2018: articles 1 (two years), 2 (exceptions), 2-A (proof), 3 (rights), 4 and 5 (family home), 6 (death benefits), 7 (adoption), 8 (ending): https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=901&tabela=leis (checked 23 September 2026)
• gov.pt, "Casar ou viver em união de facto" (updated 10 September 2026): https://www.gov.pt/guias/casar-ou-viver-em-uniao-de-facto (parish council declaration, proof documents, rights, ending the union, division of property; checked 23 September 2026)
• Código do IRS, article 14 (shared tax address presumption) and article 59 (joint taxation option): https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/cirs_rep/Pages/irs14.aspx (checked 23 September 2026)
• Código do Imposto do Selo, article 6(e) (exemption for partner, spouse, children, and parents): https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/selo/Pages/selo6.aspx (checked 23 September 2026)
• Civil Code, article 2020 (maintenance from the estate, two year limit), articles 1105 and 1793 (family home on separation), article 1106 (transfer of a lease on death): https://www.pgdlisboa.pt (checked 23 September 2026)
• Lei 2/2016, de 29 de fevereiro: adoption by same-sex couples
• Lei 61/2025, de 22 de outubro, amending Lei 23/2007, articles 98 and 99: family reunification waiting periods and age 18 rule for partners
• Lei 37/81 (Nationality Act), article 3(3), as amended by Lei Orgânica 1/2026, de 18 de maio: nationality after three years of de facto union with court recognition

Last verified September 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

This guide is general information, not legal advice.