Updating Your Will After Marriage or Divorce

Marriage and your will

One of the most important — and least known — facts about wills in England and Wales:

Marriage automatically revokes your will. When you get married or enter a civil partnership, any existing will becomes invalid unless it was made specifically "in contemplation of marriage."

This means that if you had a will before getting married and didn't make a new one, you currently have no valid will. The intestacy rules would apply to your estate.

What to do

Make a new will as soon as possible after getting married. Even if you want your spouse to inherit everything (which the intestacy rules may achieve anyway), a will gives you control over:

• Naming guardians for children
• Choosing executors
• Making specific gifts
• Reducing inheritance tax

Divorce and your will

Divorce doesn't revoke your will, but it does change how it's interpreted:

• Any gift to your former spouse is treated as if they had died before you
• Any appointment of your former spouse as executor is treated as void
• The rest of your will remains valid

In practice, this means your former spouse is effectively removed from your will. But the results may not be what you'd want — the gifts intended for them might pass to someone unexpected under the "what if they'd died" fallback in your will, or under the intestacy rules if there is no fallback.

What to do

Write a new will after your divorce is finalised. Don't wait — even if you're planning to remarry, a will made now protects you in the interim.

Important: these rules only apply once the divorce is final (decree absolute / final order). During separation and divorce proceedings, your will remains fully in effect as written — including any gifts to your spouse.

Separation without divorce

If you separate from your spouse but don't formally divorce, your will remains completely unchanged. Your estranged spouse will inherit according to whatever your will says — or under the intestacy rules if you don't have one.

This catches many people out. If you've separated but divorce isn't imminent, updating your will is even more urgent.

Remarriage

If you remarry, the same rule applies: marriage revokes your existing will. This is particularly important for people in second marriages with children from a first relationship — without a new will, the intestacy rules may not provide for your children as you'd wish.

See our guide on wills for blended families for more on this.

Civil partnerships

All the rules above apply equally to civil partnerships:

• Entering a civil partnership revokes your existing will
• Dissolving a civil partnership has the same effect as divorce on your will
• Separation without dissolution leaves your will unchanged

A simple rule of thumb

Any change in your marital status should prompt a new will. Whether you're getting married, getting divorced, separating, or entering a new relationship, review your will and make sure it reflects your current wishes and circumstances.

The cost of a new will is minimal compared to the consequences of having an outdated one — or no valid will at all.