What Happens to Your Will After Divorce?

Section 18A provides that when a marriage or civil partnership is legally dissolved, annulled or ended, any gift to the former spouse or civil partner in a will made before that happened fails, as does any appointment of them as an executor or trustee, because the law treats them as if they had died on the date of the divorce or dissolution for those specific purposes.

Importantly, this only takes effect once the decree absolute, or the equivalent final order, has actually been made. Being separated, or even part way through divorce proceedings, does not trigger section 18A; the marriage must be legally over.

Everything else in the will remains valid and takes effect exactly as written. If your will named substitute beneficiaries in case your spouse died before you, those substitute gifts generally take effect instead. If your will named other executors alongside your former spouse, they continue to act; if your former spouse was your only executor, the will may need a grant of representation obtained by someone else entitled to apply, such as a substitute executor or, if none is named, in accordance with the rules on who can apply.

Gifts to other beneficiaries, such as children, other family members or charities, are completely unaffected by section 18A and continue exactly as set out in the will.

Section 18A is a useful safety net, but it is not a substitute for reviewing your will properly after a divorce. It does nothing to update guardianship appointments for children, does not add new beneficiaries you may now want to include, such as a new partner, and does nothing to address how your estate should be split if your former spouse's share simply falls back into the residue rather than going where you would actually want it to go.

It can also create unintended results, for example if your will's default fallback provisions were designed around your spouse being alive and now produce an outcome you never intended once that gift fails.

If you have separated but are not yet divorced, section 18A does not apply at all, because you are still legally married. Your spouse remains fully entitled under your existing will, and would also still inherit under the intestacy rules if you have no will. This is a common and important gap that catches people out.

If you are separated and want to change how your will treats your spouse, you need to make a new will now; do not wait for the divorce to be finalised.

Once your divorce or dissolution is finalised, review your will properly rather than assuming section 18A has dealt with everything. Update guardianship appointments, reconsider who should now benefit from any share that previously would have gone to your former spouse, and check that your choice of executors still makes sense.

If your financial settlement, children's arrangements or new relationships make things more complicated, take advice from a solicitor, particularly around any ongoing claims or provision for children.