Faulkner married Lucy Forsythe, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, in 1951. They met through their common interests in politics and hunting. She was equally suited to a political partnership having had a career in journalism with the "Belfast Telegraph" and was secretary to the Northern Ireland Prime Minister, Sir Basil Brooke, when they met. Together they had three children: a daughter and two sons. They took up residence at Highlands, not far from the village of Seaforde. One of his sons, Michael, has written a memoir, "The Blue Cabin" (2006) about his move to the family's former holiday house on the island of Islandmore on Strangford Lough.