Marriage & Your Will Q&A

February 14, 2019

We participated in Solicitors Chat yesterday on Twitter answering questions about Marriage & Your Will. Our Chartered Legal Executive, Janine Guthrie, was on hand to provide some much needed guidance. We’ve set out our answers out below.

1. How does getting married or entering into a civil partnership affect your will?

It revokes your Will leaving you intestate, meaning your assets may not be passed on to those you wish. So, if you do not put a new Will in place after you get married, then the law will decide who inherits your money, possessions and property (Your Estate).

2. What are the intestacy rules and how do they work?

The intestacy rules are rules that apply if someone dies without leaving a Will. They dictate how a deceased’s estate is distributed. It is usually the highest existing and surviving relative that will take priority unless the value of the estate exceeds £250,000.

3. What does it mean to make a will ‘in contemplation of marriage’?

Even though a Will is revoked when you get married or enter into a civil partnership, it will not be revoked if the Will is made “in contemplation”. This occurs when you are planning on entering into marriage with the specific person named in that clause.

4. Does getting a divorce impact your will?

Divorce does not automatically revoke your whole Will. Instead, if you divorce or end a civil partnership, your Will takes effect as if your former spouse or civil partner had died on the date that the decree absolute or the dissolution of the partnership was issued. They would also no longer be permitted to act as an Executor or Trustee of your Estate.

Your Estate would then be passed onto the next beneficiary who is entitled to it. If everything in your Estate had been left to your spouse, with no other beneficiaries named, then your Estate would be dealt with as if you had died without a valid Will (known as dying ‘intestate’).

5. How can a solicitor help couples to make a will?

At Tayntons, we provide sound legal advice on the law surrounding making a Will and ensure that Wills are drafted and signed correctly. Whether you have a straightforward estate or more complex assets, we can help ensure everything is correctly accounted for and your loved ones are protected.

For more information about how we can help draft your Will, visit our ‘Making a Will’ page.

If you would like some more information about how getting married or entering into a civil partnership will affect your Will, contact Janine Guthrie on 0800 158 4147 and book an initial consultation today.