Marriage, divorce and separation: what happens to your Will and LPAs

Most people know a Will should be updated when family life changes. Fewer know that the law makes some changes for you, automatically, and not always in the way you would choose. This guide sets out what happens to your Will and your Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) when you marry, divorce or separate, and what doesn't change at all.

Does getting married cancel a Will?

Yes. In England and Wales, marriage or civil partnership automatically revokes any Will made before it (Wills Act 1837). If you marry and don't make a new Will, you are treated as having no Will, and the intestacy rules decide who inherits.

There is one exception. A Will made "in contemplation of marriage" survives the wedding, but only if it names the person you are about to marry and makes clear it is meant to survive the marriage. That has to be planned and drafted in advance.

In practice this catches two groups in particular:

• Couples who made Wills while living together, then married. Their Wills no longer exist.
• People who remarry after being widowed or divorced. The Will that provided for their children from the first relationship is revoked, and under the intestacy rules the new spouse is usually first in line.

Is the law changing?

Not yet. In its Modernising Wills Law report (May 2025), the Law Commission recommended abolishing the rule, partly because of concern about predatory marriage. In June 2026 the government said it would consider the recommendation and respond in due course. Until the law changes, marriage still revokes a Will.

What does divorce change?

From the Final Order (called the Decree Absolute until April 2022), or the dissolution of a civil partnership, the law treats your former spouse as if they had died on that date.

Your Will. Gifts to your ex-spouse fail, and they can no longer act as your executor. The rest of the Will stands, including any gifts to your ex-spouse's family, which people often forget. Where a failed gift goes instead depends on how the Will is written, and it may not be where you would choose.

Your LPAs. Your ex-spouse's appointment as your attorney ends, unless the LPA expressly says it should continue, which is rare (Mental Capacity Act 2005). What happens next depends on how the LPA was set up:

• If your ex-spouse was your only attorney and you named no replacements, the whole LPA is revoked. You are left with no LPA at all.
• If you named replacement attorneys, they step in.
• If another attorney was appointed alongside them "jointly and severally", that attorney carries on.
• If they were appointed "jointly" with another attorney, the appointment fails and passes to any replacements. If there are none, the LPA is revoked.

If you want your ex-spouse to remain your attorney, a new appointment made after the divorce is valid.

What doesn't divorce change?

Divorce does not touch anything outside the Will and LPAs. In particular:

• Pension nominations (expression of wish forms) stay as they are until you change them.
• Life insurance policies, including policies written in trust, still pay out to whoever they name.
• Death-in-service nominations through an employer stay as they are.

Each needs updating separately, with the pension scheme, insurer or employer.

What about separation?

Separation changes nothing. Until the Final Order, your spouse is still your spouse in law. They remain a beneficiary and executor under your Will, they remain your attorney under any LPA, and if you have no Will they are still first in line under the intestacy rules.

That can last a long time. Divorces often take years to finalise while finances are settled, and some separated couples never divorce at all. We have reviewed Wills that still left everything to a spouse the client had been separated from for more than 20 years.

So the time to review is when you separate, not when the divorce comes through. If you have capacity, the fix is straightforward: a new Will, and reviewing your LPAs.

What if I have a new partner?

Unmarried partners have no automatic right to inherit under the intestacy rules, however long you have lived together. If you want to provide for a new partner, a Will is the only way to be sure it happens. And if you later marry them, that Will is revoked unless it was made in contemplation of the marriage.

Key takeaways

• Marriage or civil partnership revokes an existing Will, unless it was made in contemplation of that marriage
• From the Final Order, an ex-spouse is treated as having died - for your Will and for your LPAs
• If your ex-spouse was your only attorney, divorce can revoke your LPA entirely
• Pension nominations and life policies are not changed by divorce - update them separately
• Separation changes nothing - review your Will and LPAs when you separate, not when the divorce is final

If your relationship has changed since your Will or LPAs were made, a Will-review by a STEP-qualified estate planner will check your Will, your LPAs and how your assets are owned. Ask your financial adviser to refer you, or get in touch.