“We're married, so we don't need a will” — why that's wrong

It is one of the most common — and most costly — beliefs in estate planning: “we're married, so everything comes to me anyway.” It sounds sensible. It is also wrong in at least five ways, some of which surprise even people who thought they had this covered.

1. Your spouse does not automatically inherit everything

If you die without a will leaving a spouse and children, the intestacy rules do not simply hand everything across. Your spouse receives your personal possessions, the statutory legacy of £322,000, and half of anything above that. The other half belongs to your children, who take it at 18.

For estates above the threshold — which, with a house involved, is many ordinary families — the spouse shares the estate whether they like it or not. Marriage gets your spouse to the front of the queue; it does not clear the queue.

2. Getting married cancelled the will you already had

Here is the one almost nobody knows: marriage automatically revokes any existing will, unless that will was expressly made “in contemplation” of that particular marriage. Thousands of couples walk out of their wedding legally will-less without the faintest idea.

3. Only some assets pass automatically

Jointly owned homes (held as joint tenants) and joint bank accounts pass to the survivor automatically. But sole-name accounts, personal investments, a business interest, some death-in-service and pension benefits — these follow the estate rules, not the marriage. The “it all just comes to me” assumption quietly fails for exactly the assets people forget to check.

4. A will is where you name guardians

For parents of children under 18, this may matter more than the money. A will is the document in which you appoint guardians — the people who would raise your children if the worst happened to you both. Without one, that decision falls to the court, often with well-meaning relatives offering competing views at the hardest possible moment.

5. Blended families break the myth completely

On intestacy, “children” means biological or legally adopted children only. Stepchildren inherit nothing unless a will names them. For the growing number of blended families, the no-will default can quietly disinherit children who were raised as the family's own. If that describes your family, a will is not optional housekeeping — it is the only thing standing between your intentions and the default.

And beyond all five: only a will deals with the personal things — specific gifts, funeral wishes, who receives the items that carry meaning rather than value. Marriage does a great many things. Replacing a will is not one of them.