The problem
Our clients had previously made wills to protect each other and their children in the case of the unexpected happening. However, their recent marriage meant these previous wills were no longer valid.
The process
We were able to work quickly to prepare updated wills for our clients to sign.
How this helped
Our clients had been living together for some time and had children together. They had already made wills to ensure their partner and children would be protected should the unexpected happen, but when they decided to get married, they knew these would need to be updated.
According to law, any Will you have made previously is automatically revoked on marriage or civil partnership. The only exception to this is if the Will has been made ‘in clear contemplation’ of the marriage/civil partnership.
Though our clients had thought about marrying in the future, when they made their original wills, they did not have a specific plan to do so. In order for the wills to have been made ‘in clear contemplation’ they would’ve needed to have made their plan to marry clear in their original wills.
We met with the clients to ensure they were still happy with the wishes expressed in their previous wills. They were, so we used the old wills as a guide for preparing new ones. We were aware that the clients were without valid wills during this period, so we made sure the new ones were prepared within a week.
Our clients were then able to enjoy their honeymoon with their young family without any concerns about invalid wills.
The result
New wills were signed within the week.
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