If you wrote a will before you got married, you need to know this: under English law, marriage automatically revokes your entire will. It doesn't matter what it says. It doesn't matter how recent it is. Marriage wipes it out completely.
The legal rule
This is Section 18 of the Wills Act 1837. When you marry, any will made before the marriage is cancelled. Full stop. This applies whether you intended it or not.
It's a strange law, but it exists because historically the law assumed that when you marry, your circumstances change so fundamentally that your old wishes no longer apply. Your new spouse becomes your closest family member. The old will becomes presumed to be irrelevant.
What happens if you don't make a new will
If you marry and don't write a new will, you're treated as if you died intestate — meaning you have no will at all. Your estate is divided according to the rules of intestacy, not your wishes. This can mean:
- Your new spouse may not inherit everything (even if you'd want them to)
- Your children from a previous relationship might inherit when you didn't intend it
- Your best friend, charity, or other beneficiaries get nothing
- Someone from your old life might end up with your estate simply because the intestacy rules say so
Why this catches so many people out
It's an easy trap to fall into, because it runs against common sense. Most people assume a will they wrote years ago is still valid unless they actively change it. Marriage is the one major life event that overrides that assumption completely and automatically — no letter, no warning, no reminder. If a new will isn't written after the wedding, the estate is distributed under intestacy rules exactly as if no will had ever existed.
The exception: the "contemplation of marriage" clause
There's one exception. If your will was made "in contemplation of marriage" to a specific person, and you then marry that person, the will survives the marriage. But this only works if:
- Your will explicitly stated it was made in contemplation of a specific marriage
- You then married that specific person
Most old wills don't have this clause, so it's rarely relevant.
What you should do
The answer is straightforward: make a new will after you marry.
This needs to happen — ideally before or immediately after the marriage. It doesn't need to be expensive. Mirror wills for a couple cost from £129 in total, and you both get clarity on what happens to your estate if either of you passes away.
And if you're already married and your will was made before the marriage? Make a new will now. Don't wait.
Don't let marriage revoke your wishes
Write a new will after you marry. It takes around 30 minutes on the phone and costs from £79 for a single will, or from £129 for mirror wills.
Write Your Will NowBottom line: If you got married after writing your will, your old will is dead. Write a new one.