It is not something necessarily at the top of our list when you are excitedly planning a wedding or sadly contemplating divorce, but it is very important that when you start or end a significant relationship that you review and, if necessary, update your Will.
When you marry, your Will is revoked, unless the Will was made in contemplation of that marriage.
However, gifts in your Will made prior to the marriage are not revoked if they were made to the person to whom you are married at the time of your death.
When you divorce, any gift to a former spouse is revoked, along with any appointment as executor or trustee.

However divorce does not revoke the whole of your will e.g. it will not revoke the appointment of your former spouse as trustee of property left by the Will on trust for beneficiaries that include the former spouse’s children.

If the gift to the former spouse is revoked by divorce, the Will takes effect as if the former spouse had died before you. So if your Will left everything to your former spouse then your children, your children will inherit your assets.

It is therefore very important to regularly review your Will, particularly when there is a major change in your circumstances.

Author: Amanda Tully

This article is general information only and should not be relied on without obtaining further specific information.

 

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