{"id":3709,"date":"2022-06-01T08:56:43","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T07:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogs\/?p=3709"},"modified":"2022-06-01T08:56:43","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T07:56:43","slug":"married-need-a-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogs\/married-need-a-will\/","title":{"rendered":"If I am married or in a civil partnership, do I really need a will?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Many people mistakenly believe a marriage or civil partnership negates the need for a will. This month, Rosie Dixey explains why this is simply not the case\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4><strong>If I am married or in a civil partnership, do I really need a will? Doesn\u2019t my spouse just inherit my estate? <\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>It is a common misunderstanding that if you die without a will, your spouse or civil partner is entitled to everything. This is incorrect.<\/p>\n<p>Someone without a will is deemed by the law to have died \u2018intestate.\u2019 This means your estate must be distributed quite specifically, in accordance with the law. It does not all go to your surviving partner.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Joint assets<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>If you have a joint bank account, this will automatically pass to the surviving owner upon your death, however, property you buy with a spouse is a different matter \u2013 it depends how it was purchased originally.<\/p>\n<p>There are two ways to own a property with someone else, known as \u2018joint tenants\u2019 and \u2018tenants in common.\u2019 If you are joint tenants, the property passes automatically to the survivor upon the first death, outside the terms of any will.<\/p>\n<p>Tenants in common own a specific share of the property, which means your portion can be left to whomever you choose in a will. Alternatively, it will be distributed according to the intestacy rules and your circumstances would determine whether your partner received the entire share.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>The intestacy rules<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>If you do not have any children and you are married or in a civil partnership, your spouse will indeed inherit your entire estate if you die without a will.<\/p>\n<p>However, if you do have children, your partner is entitled to the first \u00a3270,000 and your personal belongings, but anything in excess of this amount is divided into two. They will receive 50% of the remainder and the other 50% will be split equally between your children.<\/p>\n<p>If your children are under 18 when you die, their proportion of your estate will be held in trust until they are deemed old enough to receive it, which can become a bit messy.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Making a will<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>So, in answer to your original question, yes, we would advise you to make a will, even if you are married or in a civil partnership. It is relatively quick and inexpensive to do and will allow you to choose who benefits from your estate. If you want to leave everything to your partner, you can do so!<\/p>\n<p>Without a will, your loved ones are likely to face a much more protracted and potentially expensive legal process, at a time when they are also dealing with their grief. By planning ahead and making your wishes clear, you can spare them some of this heartache.<\/p>\n<p>To find out more about making a will, why not book a free 30-minute consultation with one of our probate specialists? Call <span style=\"color: #003a7a;\">(0114) 218 4000<\/span> or email: <span style=\"color: #003a7a;\"><a style=\"color: #003a7a;\" href=\"mailto:info@tayloremmet.co.uk\">info@tayloremmet.co.uk<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many people mistakenly believe a marriage or civil partnership negates the need for a will. This month, Rosie Dixey explains why this is simply not the case\u2026 If I am married or in a civil partnership, do I really need a will? Doesn\u2019t my spouse just inherit my estate? It [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":3157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[356],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wills-and-probate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>If I am married or in a civil partnership, do I really need a will?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It is a common misunderstanding that if you die without a will, your spouse or civil partner is entitled to everything. This is incorrect.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogs\/married-need-a-will\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"If I am married or in a civil partnership, do I really need a will?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is a common misunderstanding that if you die without a will, your spouse or civil partner is entitled to everything. This is incorrect.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogs\/married-need-a-will\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-01T07:56:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/family-2-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rosie Dixey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rosie Dixey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\\\/blogs\\\/married-need-a-will\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\\\/blogs\\\/married-need-a-will\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rosie Dixey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\\\/blogs\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/54355f180b1862a7831645cc1ff57272\"},\"headline\":\"If I am married or in a civil partnership, do I really need a will?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-01T07:56:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\\\/blogs\\\/married-need-a-will\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":495,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\\\/blogs\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\\\/blogs\\\/married-need-a-will\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\\\/blogs\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/family-2-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Wills and Probate\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\\\/blogs\\\/married-need-a-will\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\\\/blogs\\\/married-need-a-will\\\/\",\"name\":\"If I am married or in a civil partnership, do I really need a will?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\\\/blogs\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\\\/blogs\\\/married-need-a-will\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\\\/blogs\\\/married-need-a-will\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\\\/blogs\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/family-2-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-01T07:56:43+00:00\",\"description\":\"It is a common misunderstanding that if you die without a will, your spouse or civil partner is entitled to everything. 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