Making a Will – Another job to add to your wedding planning “to do” list

There are many ways that you can deliberately and voluntarily revoke a Will for example by making another Will in which it states that your earlier Will is to be revoked or by you (the testator) destroying the Will with the intention of revoking it i.e. burning or tearing it.

However, there are some acts which may involuntarily revoke your Will without you knowing, one of them being entering into a marriage.

Section 18 of the Wills Act 1837 states that marriage will revoke a Will except in certain circumstances, one of them being that the Will was made in “contemplation of marriage”.

For a Will to be made in contemplation of marriage, at the time the Will was made the testator must have been expecting to be married to a particular person and have the intention that his or her Will should not be revoked by the marriage. To make sure that the Will won’t be revoked by your impending marriage a suitable clause should be inserted into the Will stating that it has been executed in contemplation of marriage.

Although you will have plenty of jobs to do leading up to your wedding day if you want to make sure that you have a Will that is valid after your marriage you should add taking a trip to your Solicitor on to your list.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss making a Will, then please call our Wills and Estate Work team on 01302 327257.