I understand that if you have a will and then you get married the will becomes invalid unless it was drafted in contemplation of the marriage.
I was doing some research on Practical law and it says that a you can state whether you want your will to be effective before marriage or only become effective after you marry.
My question is that if you chose that your will is to become after you marry and then you pass away before you marry would that mean your will is invalid and intestacy will dictate the administration of the estate?
My understanding is that a will cannot validly be made conditional upon a future event, such as marriage.
This does not mean that a will made “in contemplation” cannot include alternative provisions depending up whether or not the envisaged event takes place before the testator dies.
A will made “in contemplation” of marriage or entry into a civil partnership is valid once executed, it is just that the subsequent marriage or entry into civil partnership, as envisaged in the will, does not cause the will to be revoked.
Paul Saunders FCIB TEP
Independent Trust Consultant
Providing support and advice to fellow professionals
The operation of a will as a whole can be conditional, that is, a will can provide that it takes effect only if some event takes place or condition is satisfied (Corbett v Newey [1996] 2 All ER 914). If the will is expressed in this way and the event does not happen or the condition fails, the will cannot be admitted to probate (see Theobald on Wills: Chapter 1: Wills and Other Testamentary Instruments: Conditional Wills).
Catherine Rolfe
Director, Practical Law Private Client