Many of us will have been pleased to read about the 100 weddings that took place at Old Marylebone Town Hall yesterday in celebration of the hall’s 100^th anniversary. However, because I clearly cannot switch off, looking at the smiling faces of the happy couples I couldn’t help but think – how many of them have thought about their wills?

Obviously, weddings are happy occasions and nobody wants to be thinking about the end of things when their life together is only just starting. However, it’s important to recognise the significant effect that marriage has on your estate planning.

Firstly, marriage revokes a will. This means that, unless you have made your will explicitly with the caveat that it is a will made ‘in contemplation of marriage’, your marriage revokes any will that you already had in place. This means you either need to make a new will, or you will be treated as never having made a will at all.

Secondly, if you don’t have a will (or if your only will is revoked by your marriage) then your estate falls back on the rules of intestacy. These are the rules that apply to the estate of someone who dies without a valid will. Under the rules of intestacy, your estate is divided in the first instance between your spouse and any children you may have. 

The rules provide that your spouse receives a fixed amount (which changes over time, e.g. in line with inflation) and then anything above that is divided half and half between your spouse and your children. If you never had children, it all goes to your spouse. 

If you want to do something different than what the rules of intestacy say (e.g. you want everything to go to your spouse first rather than it being divided between your spouse and children, or you want your children to get a bigger share to begin with, or you want to provide for people other than your spouse and children) then you need to think about a will.

There are lots of things to think about when you get married – the cake, the clothes, the venue. But from an estate planning perspective you also have to look at your new spouse and think – can I continue to provide for this person when I am no longer there, do I have any family members other than this person that I need to provide for, does this person have their own children that I also want to ensure are provided for when I’m gone. 

Equally, it is worth thinking about powers of attorney – making sure that your spouse is explicitly named as someone who can manage your affairs if you lose the ability to do so in future.

Ultimately, all these questions can be answered with some good planning – maybe once all the festivities are done.

For further information about preparing a will or lasting powers of attorney, please contact me.