You learn something new everyday!

I’ve always known that having a will is a good idea, although not really essential until you have kids and/or assets.

I know that if someone doesn’t have a valid will, there is a prescribed formula for deciding who gets what.

And I know that certain things will automatically render a will invalid, such as lack of capacity by the person making the will, or if they’ve been unduly influenced.

I also know that getting married renders a pre marriage will invalid, unless it is expressly stated to be made “in contemplation of marriage” and that there was, at the time of making the will, a clear intention to marry a particular person, and that that marriage went ahead.

It didn’t come as a great surprise to me that there are people out there who deliberately marry vulnerable people with assets in order to invalidate their will and inherit everything, but I didn’t know that there is a phrase for it!   They are called predatory marriages!

OK, not very original, but it gets the point across.

The reason this came up was because the government are talking about passing a law, which would allow wills made pre marriage to remain valid after marriage, thus (in theory) meaning that predatory marriages won’t work.

However, in practice, you’re stopping one problem and creating another.  Actually, you’re creating more than one.

Firstly, what happens if someone marries the person of their dreams and forgets to redo their will.  Under current law, it wouldn’t matter, but under the new law (if it’s ever passed) their previous beneficiaries would still inherit, even if the deceased had “moved on” in his life.

Secondly, the new spouse would still have a claim under the Inheritance and Dependents Act.   So you’re not necessarily going to stop predatory marriages.

Bad news for the family, new spouse and any other dependents.  Good news for solicitors who will stand to make more money out of the disputes.

So what’s the answer?

Well, the simple resolution is don’t get married.  What’s mine is mine and what’s theirs is theirs.

But if you’re bitten by the romance bug, make sure you get into the habit of reviewing your will regularly.  That way you’re much less likely to be disadvantaged by the changes in your life or in the law.

Kleyman & Co Solicitors.  The full service law firm.  Everyday good advice.