How can marriage or divorce affect your Will?

How Can Marriage or Divorce Affect Your Will?

Marriage, divorce and remarriage are among the biggest changes we experience in life. They can also have significant consequences for your Will, pensions, beneficiary nominations, property and wider estate planning.

The difficulty is that the rules are not always intuitive.

In England and Wales, getting married will usually revoke an existing Will unless that Will was specifically prepared in contemplation of the marriage. Divorce, on the other hand, does not normally revoke the entire Will, but it can fundamentally change how provisions involving your former spouse operate.

And if you’re a British expat, things can become considerably more complicated. You may have assets in several countries, a Will prepared under another legal system and different inheritance or succession rules applying where you live.

That makes marriage, divorce or remarriage an important trigger for reviewing not just your Will, but your entire estate and financial plan.

The Impact of Marriage on a Will

Under the law of England and Wales, marriage will generally revoke an existing Will.

In practical terms, that means the Will you prepared before getting married may cease to determine how your estate should be distributed.

There is an important exception. A Will can be drafted specifically in contemplation of marriage to a particular person, in which case the subsequent marriage does not necessarily revoke it.

However, you should not assume this applies simply because your partner was mentioned in your existing Will.

If you marry without having a valid Will in place afterwards, your estate may instead be distributed according to the applicable intestacy rules.

That could produce a very different outcome from the one you intended.

This can be particularly important where:

• you have children from an earlier relationship;
• you want particular assets to pass to specific beneficiaries;
• you own a business;
• you have significant investments or property;
• you have family members who depend financially on you; or
• you own assets outside the UK.

If you’re planning to marry, reviewing your Will with an appropriately qualified legal professional should therefore form part of your wider financial planning.

What About Scotland?

This is an important distinction.

Marriage does not automatically revoke an existing Will in Scotland.

That means someone with a Scottish Will should not assume that getting married has cancelled arrangements they made before the marriage.

Scottish succession law also gives spouses, civil partners and children certain legal rights that can affect the eventual distribution of an estate.

If you have connections with Scotland, England and Wales or more than one country, establishing which succession rules apply to your circumstances can therefore be particularly important.

The Impact of Divorce on a Will

Divorce operates differently from marriage.

In England and Wales, divorce does not normally revoke the entire Will.

Instead, once the divorce becomes legally effective, provisions relating to the former spouse are generally treated as though the former spouse had died before the person who made the Will, unless the Will indicates a contrary intention.

This can affect both gifts and appointments under the Will.

For example, if your former spouse was appointed as an executor, that appointment will generally cease to operate.

Similarly, a gift that would otherwise have passed to your former spouse will normally fail.

But that does not necessarily mean the remaining estate will be distributed exactly as you would now want.

The consequences depend on how the Will was drafted and what alternative provisions it contains.

For that reason, relying on the automatic consequences of divorce rather than reviewing your Will can create unnecessary uncertainty.

Beneficiaries

One of the first things to review following divorce is who should inherit your estate.

If your former spouse was a major beneficiary, the existing Will may no longer distribute your assets in the way you intend.

You may now want assets to pass to:

• children;
• grandchildren;
• other relatives;
• a new partner;
• charities; or
• another person important to you.

This becomes particularly important where children from a previous relationship are involved.

Your Will should clearly reflect your current wishes rather than relying on provisions created when your family circumstances were very different.

Executors

You should also review who you have appointed to administer your estate.

If your former spouse was an executor, the effect of divorce may prevent that appointment from operating.

That could leave another executor acting alone or require somebody else to administer the estate, depending on the terms of the Will.

Rather than leaving the outcome to chance, review your executor arrangements whenever your relationship circumstances change.

Can You Still Leave Assets to a Former Spouse?

Yes.

Divorce does not prevent you from deliberately leaving assets to a former spouse.

There may be circumstances where you still want to provide for them, particularly where ongoing financial arrangements or family responsibilities exist.

However, if that is your intention, your Will should be professionally reviewed and drafted so that your wishes are clear.

What Else Should You Review After Marriage, Divorce or Remarriage?

Updating your Will is important, but it should not be the end of the process.

A major relationship change can affect almost every area of your financial life.

Pension Beneficiary Nominations

Your pension arrangements require particular attention.

Pensions do not necessarily pass according to the instructions in your Will. Depending on the pension arrangement, trustees or scheme administrators may have discretion over who receives death benefits, taking account of beneficiary or expression-of-wish nominations.

If you nominated a spouse or partner years ago and your relationship has since ended, check whether that nomination still reflects your wishes.

Similarly, marriage or remarriage may mean that nominations made previously should be reconsidered.

There is another important change on the horizon. From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits will be brought within the value of an individual’s estate for UK Inheritance Tax purposes. This makes coordinating pension and estate planning increasingly important.

Life Insurance

Life insurance is another area easily overlooked following a relationship change.

Review:

• who is intended to receive the proceeds;
• whether the policy is held in trust;
• whether the level of cover remains appropriate; and
• whether your family now has different financial needs.

A policy arranged many years ago may no longer achieve what you originally intended.

Jointly Owned Property

Marriage and divorce can also change what you want to happen to jointly owned property.

The legal ownership structure can influence what happens to your share when you die, and the position can vary according to the jurisdiction involved.

Property ownership should therefore be reviewed alongside your Will rather than treated as a completely separate issue.

Investments and Savings

Your investment portfolio may also have been structured around your previous family circumstances.

Divorce or remarriage may alter your income requirements, retirement plans, attitude to investment risk and longer-term objectives.

This is a good opportunity to reconsider whether your existing investments still support the life you are now planning.

Powers of Attorney

Your Will deals with what happens after your death. A Power of Attorney deals with decisions that may need to be made during your lifetime if you cannot make them yourself.

If a spouse or former partner features in an existing Power of Attorney arrangement, a relationship change should prompt you to obtain legal advice about whether it still reflects your wishes.

Children From Previous Relationships

Estate planning can become particularly important when you remarry and either you or your new spouse has children from a previous relationship.

You may want to provide financial security for your new spouse while ultimately ensuring that some or all of your wealth passes to your own children.

Those objectives are not always achieved automatically.

Blended families can create competing financial priorities, making professionally drafted Wills and coordinated financial planning especially important.

Marriage, Divorce and UK Inheritance Tax

The UK Inheritance Tax rules changed significantly on 6 April 2025.

Before that date, domicile and deemed domicile played a central role in determining whether someone’s overseas assets were potentially within the scope of UK Inheritance Tax.

The system is now principally based on long-term UK residence.

Are You a Long-Term UK Resident?

Broadly, you can be classed as a long-term UK resident if you have been UK tax resident for the previous 10 consecutive tax years or for at least 10 of the previous 20 tax years.

If you meet the long-term residence test, overseas assets can potentially fall within the scope of UK Inheritance Tax as well as UK assets.

Leaving the UK does not necessarily remove this exposure immediately.

Depending on your previous residence history, you can remain within the long-term UK residence regime for a period after becoming non-UK resident. There are also transitional rules, so individual residence histories need to be examined carefully.

For British expats, this means the old assumption that moving abroad automatically takes your worldwide estate outside UK Inheritance Tax should be treated with considerable caution.

The Spouse and Civil Partner Exemption

Transfers between spouses and civil partners are generally exempt from UK Inheritance Tax.

However, where the person making the transfer is a long-term UK resident and the receiving spouse or civil partner is not, the exemption is generally restricted to the Nil Rate Band applying at the date of the transfer.

In those circumstances, the spouse or civil partner exemption can be limited.

There are also provisions allowing a non-long-term UK resident spouse or civil partner to elect to be treated as a long-term UK resident for IHT purposes in certain circumstances, but making such an election can have wider consequences and requires careful consideration.

This is particularly relevant to international couples where one partner has spent many years in the UK and the other has not.

What Happens to Inheritance Tax After Divorce?

The spouse exemption is linked to being married or in a civil partnership.

Following divorce, transfers to a former spouse do not simply continue to qualify for the spouse exemption in the same way.

Divorce should therefore prompt a wider review of your estate planning, particularly where substantial assets, property, investments or international holdings are involved.

The Nil Rate Band and Residence Nil Rate Band

The standard UK Inheritance Tax Nil Rate Band is currently £325,000.

An additional Residence Nil Rate Band of up to £175,000 may also be available where the relevant conditions are satisfied and a qualifying residence passes to direct descendants.

Unused allowances can sometimes be transferred between spouses or civil partners.

However, the Residence Nil Rate Band is subject to additional conditions and can be reduced for larger estates.

You should therefore avoid simply assuming that every individual automatically has a £500,000 tax-free estate.

What Happens to My Will if I Remarry?

If your Will is governed by the law of England and Wales, remarriage generally has the same effect as a first marriage: it can revoke your existing Will, unless the Will was appropriately drafted in contemplation of that particular marriage.

This can be particularly significant for people with children from an earlier relationship.

For example, you may have prepared a Will after your divorce specifically to protect your children. If you subsequently remarry without reviewing that Will, the marriage may revoke it.

Your estate could then be distributed under the intestacy rules rather than according to the arrangements you carefully put in place.

This is why remarriage should always trigger another estate planning review.

Again, the Scottish position is different because marriage itself does not automatically invalidate a Scottish Will.

British Expats: Why Cross-Border Wills Can Be More Complicated

For British expats, there is another layer to consider.

You may have:

• a UK Will;
• a separate Will in your country of residence;
• property in several countries;
• pensions and investments held in the UK;
• overseas bank and investment accounts;
• family members living in different jurisdictions; and
• different inheritance or succession regimes applying to different assets.

The effect of marriage or divorce on a Will can vary between legal systems.

Some countries also operate forced heirship rules, which can restrict your ability to decide freely who inherits certain assets.

You should therefore never assume that because you understand what happens to your English, Welsh or Scottish Will, exactly the same rules apply to a Will or assets located elsewhere.

Where several Wills are used, they should also be professionally coordinated. A newly drafted Will in one jurisdiction can potentially cause problems for another if the documents are not structured carefully.

Specialist local legal advice may therefore be required alongside UK advice.

Common Estate Planning Mistakes After Marriage or Divorce

Major relationship changes often expose estate planning arrangements that have not been reviewed for years. Some of the most common mistakes include:

Assuming Your Existing Will Still Does Exactly What You Want

Marriage or divorce can change the legal effect of an existing Will, and the outcome differs between jurisdictions. Do not assume that an old Will still produces the result you intended.

Updating Your Will but Forgetting Your Pension Nominations

Changing your Will does not automatically update the nominations attached to your pension arrangements. Review both.

Forgetting About Life Insurance

An old life insurance arrangement may still reflect a family situation that no longer exists. Check the intended beneficiaries and whether the level and structure of cover remain appropriate.

Ignoring Jointly Owned Assets

Not every asset necessarily passes according to your Will. The way property and other assets are legally owned can affect what happens on death.

Forgetting About Children From an Earlier Relationship

Remarriage can make estate planning considerably more complicated where either spouse has children from a previous relationship.

Make sure your arrangements reflect how you want to balance provision for your spouse with any inheritance you intend to leave to your children.

Assuming Divorce Automatically Updates Everything

Divorce may change the legal effect of parts of your Will, but it does not mean every pension, investment, insurance policy or other financial arrangement has automatically been updated.

Review them individually.

Relying on the Old UK Domicile Rules for Inheritance Tax

From 6 April 2025, UK IHT exposure to overseas assets is principally determined by the long-term UK residence regime rather than the previous domicile and deemed-domicile framework.

British expats with older estate plans should therefore check whether the assumptions on which those plans were based remain valid.

Ignoring Overseas Assets and Local Succession Laws

A UK Will does not mean you can disregard the rules applying in the country where you live or own assets.

Cross-border estates often require coordinated legal, tax and financial planning.

Has Your Financial Plan Kept Up With Your Family Circumstances?

Marriage, divorce and remarriage can change far more than your Will.

Your pensions, investments, insurance, beneficiary nominations, retirement strategy and estate planning may all have been arranged around circumstances that no longer exist.

For British expats, those changes can be amplified by having assets, family members and financial arrangements spread across several countries.

I am not a solicitor, and changes to your Will or other legal documents should be discussed with an appropriately qualified legal professional. However, your legal arrangements should work alongside your wider financial plan rather than in isolation.

If your family circumstances have changed and you want to review the financial side of your arrangements, a Discovery Call is an opportunity to discuss your pensions, investments, retirement planning and wider financial position.

Book a Discovery Call

Final Thoughts

Your Will should not be something you prepare once and then forget.

Marriage, divorce, separation and remarriage can all change your family circumstances and financial priorities. In some jurisdictions, they can also directly change the legal effect of the Will itself.

For British expats, the position can be even more complicated because different countries may apply different succession, inheritance and tax rules.

The sensible approach is therefore to treat every major relationship change as a prompt to review the bigger picture.

That means considering your Will, pensions, beneficiary nominations, life insurance, investments, property ownership, Powers of Attorney, Inheritance Tax position and overseas assets together.

Your solicitor or other appropriate legal professional can advise on the Will and succession law. Appropriate tax advice may be needed for UK and overseas tax matters. Your financial planner can then help ensure your pensions, investments and wider financial arrangements remain aligned with the people you want to protect and the future you are trying to build.