Cohabitants and ownership share in Norway: split by what each pays in (2026)

The ownership share should mirror how much equity and loan each of you actually puts in, not an automatic 50/50. Cohabitants (samboere) in Norway have no statutory equal division as married couples do, and you do not inherit each other without a will. Three things secure the purchase: a correct ownership share from the start, a written cohabitation agreement, and a will if you want to secure each other the home.

The ownership share should follow the money

There is no law that says cohabitants own a home 50/50. Each of you owns the part you actually paid for, and an equal share is assumed only when nothing else can be shown. So the ownership share (eierbrøk) should follow the real contributions: equity, share of the loan, and the running costs.

A common example: the home costs 4 000 000 kr, you borrow 3 600 000 kr, and put in 400 000 kr of equity. One puts in 300 000 kr, the other 100 000 kr, and you share the loan and costs equally.

Equity put in	Share of equity	Starting point for ownership share
300 000 kr	75 %	Higher share to the one who puts in most
100 000 kr	25 %	Lower share to the one who puts in least

If you split the loan equally, that pulls the ownership share back toward the middle. The point is that the split should be right and written down, not exact to two decimals. A 50/50 split when the contributions differ effectively gives one of you money.

Cohabitants have no statutory equal division

This is the big difference from married couples. For spouses, community of property is the starting point, with rules on skjevdeling for what one brought in or later received as inheritance or gift. Cohabitants have no such frame. If you part, each of you keeps what you own by the ownership share, with no automatic halving.

The starting point is the opposite of the Swedish one. Norway has no cohabitation law that divides the values equally. That is exactly why the ownership share and the cohabitation agreement matter so much: without them, the one who is not on the deed, or who holds too small a share, can walk away from the home with far less than they put in.

Write a cohabitation agreement

A cohabitation agreement (samboeravtale) is a written document that records who owns what, how you split the costs, and what happens on a separation. It is not required by law, but it is what actually decides a settlement. Include at least:

• The ownership share, and what it is based on (equity, loan, inheritance, gift, renovation).
• How you split the loan, interest, and shared costs each month.
• What happens on separation: can one buy the other out, and at what value.

Update the agreement when something changes, for example if one renovates with their own money or you start paying unequal amounts on the loan. Without an agreement you may have to prove years later who paid what, and that quickly becomes a dispute over old receipts.

Cohabitants do not inherit each other without a will

If one of you dies, the surviving cohabitant does not inherit automatically. The share passes to the deceased’s heirs, usually children or parents, and the survivor can be left with no right to the home. The Inheritance Act gives cohabitants a limited right in one case: if you have, have had, or are expecting a shared child, the survivor has a right to a minimum inheritance of four times the National Insurance basic amount.

The basic amount is 136 549 kr from 1 May 2026, so 4 G is 546 196 kr. That rarely covers a cohabitant’s share of a home. To secure each other fully, you must write a will. A will must be in writing and signed with two witnesses present to be valid.

Protect each other financially

Many couples combine the will with life insurance or loan protection insurance. Life insurance gives the survivor funds to buy out the heirs and stay in the home, and loan protection insurance can pay down all or part of the loan on death. Together with the will, it removes the risk that the survivor has to sell the home to settle up.

How to secure the purchase in practice

Set the ownership share by how much each of you puts in, write a cohabitation agreement as soon as the deed is in place, and write a will if you want to secure each other the home on death. That covers the most common traps cohabitants fall into.

Heimer reads the sales prospectus and works out the total price, costs, and monthly cost for the home you are considering, so you see what the purchase actually costs each month. Paste the listing.