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If I’m married and want my spouse to inherit everything, do I still need a Will?

If you are married, you might assume that all of your assets will automatically go directly to your surviving spouse if you die.

While this is partially true, there are some caveats if you don’t have a valid Will.

How do intestacy rules work when you’re married?

In England and Wales, if you die without a valid Will, your estate is distributed according to the rules of intestacy.

For those of you who are married but do not have any children, your spouse will usually inherit the entire estate.

However, if there are children in the picture, the situation changes slightly.

Instead of the spouse automatically inheriting everything, they receive a statutory legacy, which is currently the first £322,000 of your estate.

If the estate exceeds this figure, the remainder will be split in half between the spouse and any children.

Whether or not the family home forms part of the estate for intestacy purposes depends on how it is owned.

Joint tenants – Each spouse owns the property together as a single share. When one spouse dies, their share passes automatically to the surviving spouse, outside intestacy rules, so it is not counted as part of the £322,000 statutory legacy or the remainder of the estate.
Tenants in common – Each spouse owns a specific share of the property (for example, 50/50). When one spouse dies, their share becomes part of their estate and is distributed according to intestacy rules (or a Will, if one exists). In this case, their share of the home is included in the £322,000 calculation and the remainder is split between the spouse and children.

If you would like further clarification on how your property may form part of your estate, get in touch with our experts.

An example of how the intestacy rules apply

To help make this a little clearer, we’ve put together a hypothetical example for you.

A married couple have two children together and own the family property as joint tenants.

Excluding the family home (which passes directly to the surviving spouse), the estate is worth £400,000.

After the statutory legacy payment, £78,000 remains.

The spouse then receives an additional £39,000, bringing their total inheritance to £361,000, while each child receives £19,500 from the estate.

*The exact figures will depend on your personal circumstances and may be subject to Inheritance Tax.

Why you should draft a Will if you want your spouse to be the sole beneficiary

With a Will stating that you want your spouse to inherit everything, your spouse can receive 100 per cent of your estate and you can decide when and how children inherit later, for example, after your spouse’s death.

The issue is that without a Will, if assets like the family home are not jointly owned, your spouse may be forced to sell the property to cover the children’s shares.

A properly drafted Will ensures your spouse inherits exactly what you want them to and removes the added stress of legal complexity while they grieve.

Get in touch with our Wills and Probate team for assistance drafting or updating your Will today.