Making a Will Before Getting Married

Under the law of England and Wales, getting married automatically revokes any will you made before the wedding. This has been the rule for a long time and the reasoning behind it is that marriage fundamentally changes your circumstances and your closest relationships, so the law assumes any earlier will no longer reflects what you would want. It applies whether you married in a small ceremony or a large one, and it applies even if your old will named your new spouse as a beneficiary already.

The one exception is a will made 'in contemplation of marriage', meaning it was written specifically because you knew you were going to marry a particular person, and it states clearly that it is intended to remain valid after that marriage takes place. This wording has to be precise, and it only protects the will if you go on to marry the person named. If you are engaged and want your existing will to survive the wedding, this is the route to take, and it needs to be drafted properly rather than assumed.

If you marry and do not have a will written in contemplation of that marriage, you are left with no valid will at all from the moment you say 'I do'. If you were to die at that point, your estate would be distributed under the intestacy rules rather than by any wishes you had previously written down.

For a newly married couple, intestacy usually means your spouse inherits a significant share of your estate, and if you have children, the rest is split between your spouse and children according to a fixed formula rather than anything you have chosen. If you have children from an earlier relationship, or want to leave something to a parent, sibling or friend, intestacy will not achieve that, since it follows a strict order of entitlement based purely on family relationships.

Once you marry, your spouse gains legal status that an unmarried partner simply does not have, including automatic inheritance rights under intestacy and the ability to make a claim against your estate if they feel inadequately provided for. This is a good thing in many respects, but it also means the assumptions behind any old will, perhaps one written when you were single or with a previous partner in mind, no longer hold.

It is also worth thinking about what marriage means for property you already own, any children from before the relationship, and who you would want to act as executor now that your circumstances have changed. A new will lets you address all of this properly rather than relying on a document that no longer reflects your life.

Many couples choose to make a new will in the run-up to their wedding, either as a will written in contemplation of the marriage, so it takes effect immediately and survives the ceremony, or simply planning to make a fresh will shortly afterwards. Either approach works, but it helps to actually decide which one you are doing rather than leaving it vague, since a will that assumes it is 'in contemplation of marriage' without the right wording will not achieve that protection.

For most couples with a straightforward situation, one home, no children from previous relationships, reasonably simple finances, a will can be made online quickly and affordably. If your situation is more complex, for example you own a business, have children from an earlier relationship, or want to protect assets brought into the marriage, it is worth taking individual advice to make sure the will actually does what you intend.

It is easy for a will to slip to the bottom of a long wedding to-do list, but it takes far less time than most other items on it, and it protects the people you are marrying for. Many couples find it works well to make their wills together, mirroring each other's wishes where appropriate, shortly before or after the wedding.

Whatever timing you choose, do not assume an old will is still doing its job once you are married. Checking, and making a new will if needed, takes a will from £69 with our service and gives you one less thing to worry about once the celebrations are over.