Impact of Marriage and Divorce on Wills
Marriage revokes an existing Will, unless it has been made in contemplation of the marriage and includes the specific wording to confirm that it should not be revoked by the act of marriage. This can surprise many clients, especially those with children from previous relationships, who don’t realise that the act of marriage has revoked their Will and now there is no provision in their Will for their children.
If the married couple don’t then go on to redo their Will, then they risk dying intestate (without a Will) and the Rules of Intestacy specify who will inherit the estate. Under these rules, the first £322,000 passes to the surviving spouse, with any balance being shared equally between the spouse and the children or grandchildren.
Obviously, if someone dies with an estate worth less than £322,000 then everything will pass to the surviving spouse, leaving any children of the previous relationship disappointed.
As you can imagine, this can cause a lot of issues for the families who are left behind and often leads to several disputes.
Surprisingly, a divorce will not revoke a Will, but rather the ex-spouse is treated as though they had died immediately before the deceased. Whilst this means that the ex-spouse won’t inherit under the terms of the Will, careful thought should be given as to what provisions will then take effect and whether that is still what you would want.
In the excitement of planning a wedding or the stress of going through a divorce, Wills are often forgotten about or ‘put on the back burner’ whilst the immediate financial agreements are sorted, but really, they should be given a higher priority.
Impact of Marriage and Divorce on Pension, Life Insurance and Death in Service
Similarly, when marrying/remarrying or divorcing, you should also think about the provisions you have made for your pensions, life insurance and death in service benefits. Quite often clients will have forgotten to update their wishes in this regard, and again, this can cause a great deal of upset should a payment be made to someone who perhaps wouldn’t have been the beneficiary had the wishes been updated.
Next Steps
If you would like to find out more, speak to Timms Head of Wills and Probate, Charlotte Day on 01283 214231 or email c.day@timms-law.com.
Check out our Wills and Probate homepage here.
