Making a Will After Remarriage

Under the law of England and Wales, getting married or entering a civil partnership automatically revokes any earlier will you made, unless that will was made specifically in contemplation of that marriage, meaning it clearly states it was made in anticipation of marrying that particular person and is intended to survive it. If your earlier will does not meet this test, it is treated as if it never existed once you remarry.

This surprises a lot of people, particularly if they made a careful will years before remarrying and assumed it still reflected their wishes. If you have remarried without making a new will, or a will made in contemplation of the marriage, you are very likely to be in the position of having no valid will at all, meaning the intestacy rules would decide who inherits from you.

If you die without a valid will after remarrying, your estate is distributed under the intestacy rules, which give a fixed share and personal belongings to your spouse first, with the remainder split between your spouse and any children according to a statutory formula. This can mean your new spouse receives a significant portion of your estate, potentially leaving less than you would have chosen for children from your first relationship, and step-children generally receive nothing at all under these rules.

This outcome may or may not reflect what you would actually want, but crucially it is not a choice, it is simply what happens by default in the absence of a valid will. Making a new will after remarriage puts the decision back in your hands.

The central planning question after remarriage is usually how to provide for your new spouse, particularly if you want them to be able to continue living comfortably, potentially including in a shared home, while also making sure children from your earlier relationship eventually receive a fair share of what you built up, including before the new marriage.

Some couples address this simply, by each leaving everything to the other and then to their own children, accepting the risk that the survivor could later change their mind. Others use more structured approaches, such as a life interest trust over the family home, which allows a surviving spouse to remain living there for their lifetime while ultimately preserving value for children from the earlier relationship.

Remarriage is a good moment to review not just your will but related matters, including how your home is owned, since joint ownership arrangements affect what happens on death separately from your will, and pension nominations, which are usually dealt with by a separate expression of wish form rather than your will itself.

It is also worth reviewing any life insurance policies and their beneficiaries, since these too typically operate outside your will and need updating separately to reflect your current wishes following remarriage.

A straightforward new will after remarriage, where there are no children from previous relationships or where everyone involved is an independent adult with no property complexity, can often be handled through a well-designed online will service. Where you want to balance a surviving spouse's needs against children from an earlier relationship, particularly involving the family home or a trust structure, individual legal advice is strongly recommended.

Getting this right matters for both your spouse and your children, and a solicitor experienced in blended family planning can help make sure the will actually achieves what you intend, rather than leaving it to chance or to a structure that does not quite fit your family's circumstances.