Getting married can revoke your Will
ℹ️ Did you know that if you marry / remarry your existing Will is no longer valid?
ℹ️ This could mean you could die “intestate”, meaning the state (and not you) decides what happens to your assets
ℹ️ It could also put your children’s inheritance at risk
I have seen several married couples recently who thought they had a valid Will and didn’t. They had married after they had made their Wills.
- In one case the marriage took place over 10 years ago and the Wills made when they bought a house a year before the wedding hadn’t been valid for all that time!
- In another case a newly re-married client didn’t realise that his current Will protecting his children from his former relationship was cancelled and his children wouldn’t inherit anything at all.
Marriage revokes all previous wills ( unless you have a clause stating it won’t), meaning that unless you make a new Will, your new spouse could inherit what you had intended to leave to your children. If a couple both have children from a previous relationship, there is nothing to stop them changing their own Will after the first one dies, leaving everything to their own children and nothing to the stepchildren.
There are several ways that we can ensure your children’s inheritance is protected.
Contact me to discuss the best way to write your Will with your new partner.