Do I Need a Will If I'm Married?

The short answer is yes

Marriage does not protect your estate. Many married couples assume everything will pass to their spouse automatically when they die. It mostly does, but not entirely, and the exceptions can cause real problems.

What happens without a will if you're married

If you die without a will in England and Wales, the rules of intestacy apply. These rules divide your estate in a specific order.

If you're married with children, your spouse inherits your personal belongings, the first £322,000 of your estate, and half of anything above that. The remaining half passes to your children. That matters if your estate is worth more than £322,000 and you wanted your spouse to have everything. Under intestacy, they don't.

If you're married with no children, your spouse inherits everything. In that case, intestacy might give the right result. But it assumes you want the full estate to go to your spouse, with no thought given to parents, siblings, friends, or charities.

What a will lets you do

A will gives you control. You decide exactly who gets what, in what proportions, and under what conditions. You appoint an executor you trust, name a guardian for children under 18, and leave specific items to specific people.

Without a will, none of that is possible.

We own the house jointly. Do we still need a will?

Usually yes, even though the house itself may be fine. It depends on how you own it.

Most married couples own their home as joint tenants. If you do, your share passes to your husband or wife automatically when you die, whatever any will says. Money in joint bank accounts works the same way. For those things, a will makes no difference.

If you own the house as tenants in common, each of you owns a separate share, and yours passes under your will. Without one, the intestacy rules decide, and your children could end up owning part of the home your spouse still lives in. If you are not sure which you have, the title register from HM Land Registry will tell you. Our guide on what happens to your house when you die explains the difference.

Even when everything is joint, a will still decides three things:

• what happens if you both die together, or one soon after the other, when everything passes under the second person's will or the intestacy rules;
• who looks after your children if they are under 18;
• anything in your sole name, such as savings, a car, or a share in a business.

Marriage cancels your existing will

This catches a lot of people out. Getting married automatically revokes any will you made before the marriage. If you wrote a will before your wedding and didn't make a new one afterwards, you now effectively have no will at all.

The exception is a will made "in contemplation of marriage", one that explicitly states it is intended to survive a specific forthcoming marriage. These are unusual.

If you married recently, check whether you need a new will. You almost certainly do.

Who should make a will after marriage

The case for making a will is strongest if:

• Your estate is worth more than £322,000 and you want your spouse to have all of it
• You have children and want to specify who gets what if both of you die
• You own property with someone other than your spouse
• You have children from a previous relationship
• You want to leave anything to anyone other than your spouse

For a straightforward married couple, mirror wills are the usual answer: two matching wills, each leaving everything to the other and then to the children. PureWill does a pair for £129, and the how to make a will guide sets out the steps. If your circumstances are more complex (stepchildren, overseas property, significant assets), use a qualified solicitor.