Can I Leave Everything to My Spouse?

In a will, you can name your spouse or civil partner as the sole beneficiary of your entire estate, meaning everything you own after debts, funeral costs and any specific gifts are settled. This is straightforward to set out and is exactly how many couples, particularly those without children or with children from the same relationship, choose to arrange things.

Many couples make mirror wills, where each partner leaves broadly the same provisions to the other, often with the same fallback arrangements for children if both of them die. This keeps the arrangements consistent and easy to understand for everyone involved.

It is a common misconception that a surviving spouse automatically inherits everything if there is no will. Under the intestacy rules, a surviving spouse or civil partner receives the first statutory legacy from the estate along with personal possessions, but if the deceased had children, the remaining balance is split between the spouse and the children according to a fixed formula, rather than passing entirely to the spouse.

A will leaving everything to your spouse removes this uncertainty and gives them full use of the whole estate, which is often what couples actually want, particularly to make sure the surviving partner is not forced to sell the family home to release a child's statutory share.

If you have children from an earlier relationship and leave everything outright to a new spouse, there is a real risk that your children ultimately receive nothing, because your spouse is free to change their own will at any time after you die, and there is no legal obligation on them to provide for your children later.

Where this applies, many couples use a life interest trust instead of an outright gift: the surviving spouse can live in the home and benefit from the estate during their lifetime, with the capital passing to the children afterwards. This is a more complex structure and generally needs advice from a solicitor to set up correctly.

A will leaving everything to your spouse should always include a fallback, setting out who inherits if your spouse has already died or if you die at the same time, commonly in an accident. Without this, the estate can fall into intestacy, which for many couples means it passes to children, or to more distant relatives if there are none, in ways that may not match what either of you intended.

It is common for the fallback to mirror between both partners' wills, for example naming children in equal shares with a per stirpes substitution so a deceased child's own children inherit their parent's share.

For most married couples and civil partners without unusual complications, mirror wills leaving everything to each other, with a clear fallback for children, can be set up confidently through an online will service. Where you have a blended family, business assets, or significant property, take individual advice to make sure the arrangement actually achieves what you want.

My Posh Will offers mirror wills for couples at £89, a one-off payment with lifetime access, alongside a single will at £69. The guided process takes most people around ten minutes, and includes clear instructions for signing and witnessing your wills correctly.