Can I claim maintenance from my partner if we were never married?

The short answer

Start with the truth that has not changed: South Africa does not give cohabiting partners an automatic right to maintenance the way it gives divorcing spouses one. There is no common-law marriage here, and no automatic support duty just because you lived together.

What has shifted is that the courts are starting to recognise, in the right circumstances, a duty of support between life partners. A 2026 judgment granted exactly that, on a temporary basis. So the door is not bolted shut anymore. It is just a narrow door, and you have to prove your way through it.

The default rule

For a married couple, the duty to support flows automatically from the marriage, which is why a spouse can claim maintenance on divorce. Cohabitants are different. As things stand, you have no automatic claim. To get anywhere, you have to show a court that your relationship created a legally enforceable duty of support, the kind that arises from a relationship that was, in substance, like a marriage.

What the 2026 case did

In P.A.L v R.J.T (reported as [2026] ZAWCHC 99; see SAFLII), the Western Cape High Court granted an unmarried woman interim maintenance from her former partner after a relationship of nearly three decades. The court described it as the first time a South African court had done so for a partner in a permanent life partnership. It used its inherent power to hold the situation steady while the real dispute heads to trial.

Interim is not final is not automatic

This is the distinction nobody draws clearly, and it is the whole story:

• Interim maintenance just keeps things stable while the case is fought. It is temporary.
• Final maintenance would be a court deciding, after trial, that your partner actually owes you support. That question is still open.
• Automatic maintenance, the kind married people get, does not exist for cohabitants at all.

So read the 2026 case for what it is: encouraging movement, not a new right you can simply claim. The court was careful to say it was not deciding, at the interim stage, whether such a duty finally exists.

What you would have to prove

If you want to argue for support, you are trying to show a duty of support from a relationship that looked and worked like a marriage. The kinds of things that build that picture:

Your realistic levers

Honestly, maintenance is the hardest thing for an unmarried partner to win, and you should not bank on it. The stronger, more reliable levers are usually:

• A cohabitation agreement, if you have one, which can set out what happens on a split (the best protection, signed in advance).
• A claim for a share of the assets you built together, through a universal partnership. That is about property, not ongoing support, but it is often the real money.

Breakup vs death: two different claims

What to do now

1. Gather proof that your relationship was, in substance, like a marriage (the checklist above).
2. Get legal advice specific to your facts before committing to a maintenance claim. It is the hardest route.
3. Look hard at the asset side too. A universal-partnership claim over shared property is often the stronger play.
4. If you are still together, a cohabitation agreement now avoids the whole uncertainty later.

Questions people ask us

Can I get alimony if we were never married?

There is no automatic alimony for unmarried couples. You would have to prove a duty of support from a marriage-like relationship, and even the leading 2026 case only granted temporary, interim support while the real question goes to trial.

We were together 15 years. Doesn’t that count?

It helps your evidence, but time alone does not create a right to maintenance. South Africa has no common-law marriage, so years together do not make you a spouse.

What is interim maintenance?

Temporary support a court can order to hold things steady while a case is decided. It is not a final ruling that your partner owes you maintenance.