Getting Married

If you had a Will when you got married, you may be surprised to know that by you getting married, you invalidated your existing Will.

An easy way of remembering this is thinking of your current Will being used as confetti at the wedding!

The only instance that it is possible for a Will to remain valid after getting married is if the Will was made in contemplation of marriage, and this was mentioned in the Will.

However, you must be quite clear as to the person you are intending to marry, although the wedding date doesn’t have to be set when you are making the Will.

It may be that you want your previous Will to be invalidated, and you want your new spouse to inherit everything you own (assuming that you don’t have children and your Estate is less than £250,000 or you don’t have children and your Estate is less than £450,000), in which case having a new Will is not a priority for you.

The situation that we advise our clients to watch out for is where they are entering into a new marriage and have children from a previous relationship.

In this situation your children will become your new spouses step-children and if you should die without a new Will all of your possessions (subject to limits specified above) will be inherited by your new Spouse, and if your new spouse should die without a Will naming your own children as beneficiaries, then your children will inherit nothing from your Estate as step-children are not recognised under Intestacy laws.

So, if you have married, and not made a Will since you got married, it’s a good time now to start thinking if you need a new Will.

If you would like to find out more about how our services can benefit you then fill out the form below and one of our friendly advisers will contact you shortly.