Most people do not know this: in England and Wales, marriage automatically revokes your Will. The moment you say “I do,” your existing Will is treated as though it never existed — unless it specifically says it was made in contemplation of that particular marriage. Very few Wills contain that clause.
For someone marrying young with few assets, the consequences may be minor. But for business owners, property investors, and anyone entering a second or third marriage with children from previous relationships, the impact can be devastating. You die intestate, and the rigid intestacy rules — not your wishes — decide who gets what.
Under intestacy, if you have children, your spouse receives personal possessions, the first £322,000, and half the remainder. Your children split the other half. In a blended family, this often means your children from a previous relationship receive far less than you intended — and any trust structures you had in place are wiped out entirely.
The five groups most at risk: business owners remarrying later in life (succession plans disrupted), property investors with portfolios (complex distributions under rigid rules), parents with children from previous relationships (competing interests with no discretionary flexibility), people with existing trust structures (trusts destroyed by revocation), and cohabiting couples who eventually marry (assuming nothing has changed when everything has).
There is one exception: a Will made “in contemplation of marriage” to a named person survives the wedding. But this must be explicitly drafted before the ceremony. For most people, the practical approach is to write a new Will as soon as possible after the wedding.
What to do: before the wedding, review your Will and discuss your wishes with your partner. After the wedding, write a new Will within the first month, re-establish any trust structures, update your LPAs, and update pension and life insurance nominations separately. Divorce, by contrast, does not revoke your Will — but it treats your ex-spouse as having died, which creates its own problems if your Will left everything to them.
The average contested probate case now costs upwards of £30,000 and takes 12 to 18 months. Writing a new Will after marriage takes a fraction of that time and cost. A wedding should strengthen your estate plan — not erase it.