Sweden · se-samboavtal-2026-09-06.1
Sambolagen (2003:376) on cohabitees, samboegendom, samboavtal form and jämkning, division timing, death, and dwelling takeover, plus official English cohabitee guidance and Ärvdabalken on heirship.
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Swedish cohabitation law is not a lighter version of marriage. Sambolagen applies to two people who live permanently together as a couple with a joint household, and only if neither is married. The statutory property class is narrow: the joint dwelling and household goods acquired for joint use. Cars, ordinary bank deposits, and leisure homes sit outside that class unless some other rule applies.
A samboavtal is the written, signed agreement that can turn off division entirely or leave specified property out of it. The statute does not require witnesses or Skatteverket registration. That ease is also a trap: there is no public file to prove the text later, and the cohabitee relationship ends if either party marries. Marital property then follows Äktenskapsbalken, which is a different statute and a different instrument.
Official guidance is blunt about two further gaps. Cohabitees have no maintenance duty to each other. They do not inherit unless they write wills. A samboavtal is not a will, not an äktenskapsförord, and not a complete household plan. Even a broad exclusion of bodelning leaves 22 § takeover of certain tenancies and tenant-ownerships as a separate statutory claim against compensation.
Formation
A samboförhållande ends if either party marries, they move apart, or one of them dies, and also upon specified court applications.
When the relationship ends for a reason other than the cohabitees marrying each other, either may request division of samboegendom, generally within one year.
Cohabitees or future cohabitees may agree in a written, signed contract that division will not take place or that specified property will be left out; a new agreement can change an earlier one.
The samboavtal form in 9 § is writing and signatures; the statute does not add witnessing or agency registration.
A later written agreement may change what the parties previously agreed.
Subject matter
Sambor are two people who live permanently together in a couple relationship with a joint household; the Act applies only if neither is married.
Samboegendom is the joint dwelling and household goods acquired for joint use, unless excluded by 4 or 9 §; leisure property is outside that class.
The statutory samboavtal subject is whether bodelning will occur and whether specified property is left out of that division.
After debts connected with samboegendom are covered, remaining samboegendom is in principle divided equally, subject to adjustment if that result would be unconscionable.
Only the surviving cohabitee may request division or takeover of dwelling or household goods; a mini base-amount floor can apply in favor of the survivor.
A cohabitee may in some cases take over the other’s tenancy or tenant-ownership that is not samboegendom, if they need it more and takeover is otherwise reasonable, against compensation.
A cohabitee may not, without the other’s consent, sell, let, mortgage, or similarly dispose of a dwelling that is samboegendom or that the other may take over under 22 §, or of household goods that are samboegendom.
Official English guidance states that cohabitees have no obligation to pay maintenance for each other, even after a long relationship.
Statutory heir classes in Ärvdabalken cover descendants, parents’ lines, and spouses; cohabitees are not listed as heirs, and official guidance states they inherit only by will.
Official guidance states that parenthood for the parent who did not give birth must be established, and the mother has sole custody from birth until joint custody is registered.
Later review
An unconscionable term in the agreement may be adjusted or disregarded at division, considering content, circumstances of formation, later events, and other circumstances.
11 § requires each cohabitee to account for samboegendom until division is done or the question has fallen; it is not a pre-signature financial-schedule statute of the U.S. prenup type.
9 § states writing, signatures, and guardian or administrator consent when needed; it does not require each party to have separate counsel.
Common questions
On a timely request after the relationship ends for a reason other than the two of you marrying each other, samboegendom is in principle divided equally after related debts. That is the joint home and household goods acquired for joint use, not everything either of you owns. If nobody requests division in time, each keeps their own property.
No. 9 § requires a written agreement signed by both. It does not add witnessing or registration. Skatteverket’s marital register is for marital instruments. Store the original; there is no agency file that proves the terms.
Marriage ends the samboförhållande under 2 §. 8 § also says division under Sambolagen is not the path that applies because the cohabitees marry each other. If you want a marital-property classification going forward, that is an äktenskapsförord registered with Skatteverket, not the old samboavtal with a new title.
9 § lets you agree that bodelning will not occur or that specified property is left out. 22 § is a different rule: takeover of a hyresrätt or bostadsrätt that is not samboegendom, against compensation, with a higher bar if you have not had children together. This package does not treat 9 § as a deletion of 22 §.
Only the surviving cohabitee may request division or the dwelling/household takeover described in the Act. Heirs of the deceased cannot demand that division. A separate mini base-amount floor can apply in the survivor’s favor. Inheritance of other property still depends on a will, because cohabitees are not statutory heirs.
Worked examples
If one person owned the bostadsrätt before the relationship and the other later moved in, that dwelling is often not samboegendom because it was not acquired for joint use. Government guidance makes the same distinction. A later home bought with sale proceeds can be different. The document question is acquisition purpose, not who paid the monthly fee after move-in.
Leisure property is already outside joint dwelling and household goods under 7 §. A samboavtal that recites a summer house may still be harmless surplus, but it should not be mistaken for proof that Sambolagen would have divided the cottage. Cars and bank accounts are likewise outside the statutory class.
If the file is titled prenuptial agreement but the parties are sambor, the useful questions are whether it meets 9 § as a samboavtal and whether anyone thinks Skatteverket registration was required. Registration would matter later for an äktenskapsförord, not for this statute.
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