Marriage , Divorce and your Will

When you get engaged, naturally you announce the news to friends and family, perhaps begin planning the wedding. It is a very exciting time and often the farthest thing from your mind is what effect marriage may have upon your Will (if you have one) or how your estate would be dealt with were you to pass away after you get married (or enter into a civil partnership). With that being said, there are several important matters to consider:

The Effect of marriage

If you have an existing Will and get married, your previous Will is automatically revoked. The Law states that Marriage is treated as such a significant change in a person’s circumstances that any previous Will, will not be deemed to be appropriate. Therefore, you should make a new Will so that your estate is dealt with in accordance with your wishes were the worst happen. If you do not make a new Will, or do not have one, then your estate will be dealt with under the Rules of Intestacy, not in accordance with your wishes. Hence it is always advisable to make a new Will following marriage or to make a Will if you do not have one. It is worth noting that a Will can be made in expectation of marriage and in that case it would not be automatically revoked once you are married.

The rules of intestacy, referred to above, govern who inherits on a person’s death if they die without a valid Will. These rules provide a list of who is entitled to the deceased’s estate in a specific order. These are all family members and if there are no family (not even distant relatives) then the estate will go to the crown. The full Intestacy Rules are linked at the end of the article.

The effect of divorce

Sadly, more than 50% of marriages end in divorce and the divorce process can be overwhelming, particularly if there are children and/or complicated financial matters to be resolved. Therefore, the impact upon your Will may not be at the forefront of your mind. Nevertheless, getting divorced also has a significant impact upon your Will. However, this is not the same as marriage. Divorce does not automatically revoke your Will, it is a little more complex than that.

In the unfortunate event that you get divorced, your former spouse is treated as though they had died on the day your Final Order of Divorce (or Decree Absolute) was pronounced. If gifts were left to them in your Will, these are no longer valid. If they were appointed as executor of your Will this will also be invalid post-divorce. If your spouse was the sole beneficiary of your Will then your estate will be dealt with under the Rules of Intestacy. Due to all of these factors, it is always advisable to update your Will following a divorce.

If you have any questions on the above issues, or anything else related to Wills or family law please contact us and someone from the relevant team would be more than happy to help! Enquiries@beechamfisher.co.uk

01702 348384

(Intestacy rules in full: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6and1Eliz2/15-16/64)