Home / The Rix & Kay Blog / Before saying ‘I do’ on the big day say ‘I do’ to making a Will
Bruce Clarke

Partner - West Kent (Hadlow)

8th July 2021

Before saying ‘I do’ on the big day say ‘I do’ to making a Will in ‘contemplation of marriage’

If anything should happen to you, you need to make sure your home, money and personal possessions go to the person of your choosing.

You do not have to wait until you are married or in a civil partnership to write a Will to include your future spouse; and you can do it well in advance of the wedding.

People no longer need to ‘rush’ up the aisle; we tend to wait and enjoy our engagement, save a little more money, lose a couple more inches, take time to decide on where to honeymoon……but the world can be an unpredictable place and as much as we hate to think about it, no-one knows that is around the corner.

Before saying ‘I do’ on the big day say ‘I do’ to making a Will. Just make sure you put in the Will:-

  • The name of your intended;
  • Say you are making the Will in contemplation of marriage and your marriage to each other is not to revoke the Will; and
  • Either you want the Will to take effect from when you are married, or, from the moment the Will is signed.

There is no set time you need to marry within, but it must be in the foreseeable future (waiting 25 years before you marry is a little too long to wait and will invalidate the Will).

If something did happen to you without leaving a Will, this can cause an awful lot of grief and distress for your loved ones at what is one of the worst times of their lives. Without a Will, you die intestate and this means the law will decide who inherits from you after you die. Your Estate (including your home, money and personal possessions) may take a different route to the one you may have wished. It will not pass to your partner….unless….you make a Will in contemplation of marriage!

Once you get married any Will (apart from if it is made in contemplation of marriage) you have written before will automatically be revoked; and your estate will pass under the intestacy rules.

It is important everyone makes a Will (which you can do yourself, the gov.uk website contains some helpful information – Gov.uk make a will – but we would always recommend taking specialist advice), but even more so if you are not married!

Contact our Private Client Team in Brighton & Hove, Uckfield and West Kent (Hadlow):

If you would like to discuss how our Wills Estate Planning & Trust team can assist you, please contact Bruce Clarke or Christina Wallace on 01732 440853 or email BruceClarke@rixandkay.co.uk or ChristinaWallace@rixandkay.co.uk