What are the legal complications of remarrying later in life?

What happens legally when you remarry later in life?

One of the first things to check is whether you can legally remarry and it is a criminal offence to remarry when you are not allowed to. You must have received your final divorce order (formally known as decree absolute) or your ex-partner would have needed to have passed away.

If you are able to remarry then you need to be aware that this will lead to significant change legally surrounding:

• Inheritance; and
• Financial claims; and
• Pensions, properties and other assets.

There are of course other changes, such as name changes, but as lawyers this is what tends to be the main points of concerns for clients.

In contrast, if you remain unmarried and just cohabitees (two people in a relationship who live together but who are unmarried) there are different issues to consider. You will not be legally recognised as “spouses “ and so, for example, there is no automatic sharing property and no automatic inheritance rights. 

Cohabitation disputes are often resolved by way of contract law, trust law and cohabitation agreements (if applicable) which can be more clear cut in contrast with divorce. Divorce law is often open to the interpretation of a judge and is situational which mean the results of each case can vary.

How does remarriage affect your Will in the UK?

Great, you have just got married! Congratulations! 

Now let’s talk about what happens when you die…obviously not the discussion you want to be having following what should be one of the happiest days of your life, but the discussion needs to happen. 

When you marry or even remarry any Will which you had in place is revoked unless your will explicitly is made “in contemplation of your marriage”. 

You will need to ensure you make a new Will which clearly outlines your wishes. This can help ensure that your estate is distributed according to your wishes and avoids passing under what is known as the “intestacy rules”. This is a set of rules which determine how someone’s personal assets are distributed if they pass away without a Will and they tend to follow a set amount being given to people in a set order. This might not be the people or amount you want.

Updating your Will is critical to help reflect your recent changes (in marriage for example), protecting your assets, avoiding any people inheriting who you did not wish to inherit and is sensible decision in the grand scheme of tax and financial planning.

Can my new husband / wife claim against my estate?

Having a Will can help safeguard against possible disputes. Particularly with blended families there is an increased likelihood of claims being made against a deceased persons estate. 

If your will has been revoked by your remarriage and you fail to implement a new will your new spouse will be entitled to everything if you do not have children or £322,000, personal possessions and half of whatever is remaining in the estate if you have children (Please note the law is constantly changing and although this is correct as of June 2026 this may change in the future, you should seek independent legal advice where necessary). 

Firstly, this may not be what you wished, secondly if you do have children, you may have wanted to provide for them greater than the rules of intestacy currently do. This could lead to conflict between the new spouse and the children and even between the blended family if the other children are now receiving the benefit their direct parent.

A specific piece of legislation, namely the “Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975” may be used by the new spouse to bring a claim against your estate. 

Effective estate planning, in the forms of trusts and wills, is needed to help safeguard from claims under this act where in blended families the new spouse may fear her financial needs have been satisfied. 

What are the risks for blended families when remarrying?

A lot of remarriages tend to bring with the extra complexity of children from previous relationships. As a parent you want to provide for your children and hopefully even after you are gone. You may wish for your assets therefore to be preserved for your own children instead of forming matrimonial assets which may become part of the matrimonial pot on divorce. Even from a practical standpoint you may need to strike a balance between providing for your biological children and your new spouse. Effective estate and Will planning will be necessary and it is often common to include an expression of wishes letter outlining your desires, this may help with any disputes if your biological children have seen a deduction in favour of the new spouse from their expected inheritance. You may wish to speak to a trust and estate planning lawyer who may be able to share the benefits of setting up trusts which may allow you to strike the balance you are looking for without diminishing your inheritance to your children. 

Are stepchildren treated the same as biological children?

The simple answer is no. They are not strictly entitled to inheritance if you fail to update your Will which would have been revoked on the remarriage. You may wish to leave some of your assets to them, in this case you should consider updating your Will. 

How are pensions affected by remarriage and inheritance tax changes?

For the “Silver Splicers” (those divorcing later in life) often their pensions will be their largest and most valuable asset they are bringing to the new marriage. You would have been building these up for years now and may be paying more attention to them now retirement is looming and this is a good thing. On remarriage you need to consider what happens to your pension death benefits and who you have nominated, pensions in the inheritance sphere and how the recent tax changes have affected these.

Death benefits

You need to check with your pension provider whether your new spouse has become your automatic surviving beneficiary.

Whilst doing this it would be important to check that any ex-partner has been removed, if applicable, from benefitting from your pension. If you fail to review your nominations this could lead to unintended outcomes. 

Recent changes to pensions and inheritance 

From April 2027, pension pots will for the first time fall within inheritance tax (IHT) estates. For many, this single reform has changed the calculus of late-life relationships. Weddings between partners in their fifties, sixties and beyond are becoming a quietly popular estate planning strategy.  

Currently, pensions sit outside the IHT net, allowing families to pass them down untaxed through generations. From April 2027, that shelter disappears.

Under rules announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in October 2024, the value of pension funds not inherited by a spouse or civil partner will count toward a person’s taxable estate after death. Couples with seven-figure retirement funds may suddenly find themselves within the scope of IHT on first death impacting their retirement planning and second death their succession planning. The same pension pot could potentially be taxed twice.

However, the full spouse exemption remains intact providing unlimited tax-free transfers between married or civil partners, hence the uplift in silver marriages. 

Does remarriage affect property ownership?

Individuals coming from previous relationships may be leaving their former family homes to move into a new home, possibly owned by just one of the spouses, instead of opting for a mortgage in the latter stages of life. 

Following your wedding day the legal property ownership of your property will not just automatically change but, if you live in the property together, your spouse may automatically gain "home rights" under the Family Law Act 1996, this including the right not to be evicted without a court order. Upon divorce they may also have a claim to a share of the family home or other property. 

If the happy couple do decide to buy a new property together or one of them simply looks to own a share of the property you will need to consider whether you hold your property as joint tenants or tenants in common. 

Joint tenants vs tenants in common 

• Joint tenants -  each owner is entitled to the whole of the property and upon the death the share of one owners passes automatically to the surviving spouse.
• Tenants in common - each party has a distinct share in the property, this could be unequal or unequal shares. Each parties share can pass under the terms of their Will to whomever they wish. This can often be preferred in the cases of blended families. The couple will need to enter am agreement called a “Declaration of Trust” setting out their respective shares in the property. 

However, Declarations of Trust are not adequate protection in the event of a divorce. A Nuptial Agreement must be used to protect assets on divorce.

Can you protect assets when remarrying later in life?

Some silver marriages may involve couples who have both previously divorced, which can create a more complex situation particularly if there are children from earlier relationships. 

Couples with a previous experience of relationship breakdown may be more inclined to have an agreement setting out how they own the assets they bring with them into the new relationship. 

There are a variety of ways someone can protect their assets. It may seem like a difficult conversation to have with your new partner but it is an important conversation to have nevertheless. 

You can protect your assets using a Nuptial Agreement. This can be done before or after the marriage as a “Pre” or “Post-Nuptial Agreement”.

Trust and Estate planning 

Trusts are not common everyday occurrences for most people, but they may be more popular than you think. They can help protect your assets in the new marriage and in the cases of blended families it may allow you to provide for both your new spouse and children simultaneously. A trust can also give you greater control when your intended beneficiaries receive assets as well as reduce the risk of claims from your spouse of children after death. Trusts can preserve the inheritance of your children in relation to your half of the estate from being used up paying for care fees for the surviving spouse.

They may also help reduce tax liabilities and it is worth taking expert advice from a solicitor on how effective trust and estate planning may be of relevance following or in anticipation of remarriage. 

Pre and post nuptial agreements  

A couple planning to enter a new marriage decide to enter into an agreement that shows what they intend to happen to their money and property if the marriage or civil partnership were to end and ultimately protect their assets they may have acquired over their life. 

Alternatively, they may already be married and are considering the need to protect their assets for their own benefit or their children’s.

Do you need a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement if you remarry later in life?

A prenuptial agreement can set out how you would like your assets to be treated in the event of a relationship breakdown. It can help avoid future disputes. They are becoming more and more common in Silver Marriages where individuals are likely to have acquired a greater asset portfolio during the earlier years before the wedding.  

In England and Wales, prenuptial agreements are not automatically legally binding. But a well drafted prenuptial agreement should be decisive in court disputes unless the effect of the agreement would be fundamentally unfair. 

At the moment, it is not possible to have a legally binding agreement before marriage or civil partnership about what will happen on divorce or dissolution. In other countries, pre-nuptial agreements may be binding provided certain requirements are met, and where there is an international element, advice should be sought from a specialist lawyer in that jurisdiction.

Some couples may not have had the conversation about a prenuptial agreement and may already be married. Do not worry, there is a solution to this. A post-nuptial agreement. A postnuptial agreement might be particularly beneficial where:

• One of you has substantially greater capital or income than the other
• One or both of you wishes to protect assets you owned prior to the marriage, including inheritances or family trusts
• It would be beneficial to define what is considered ‘matrimonial property’ or ‘non-matrimonial property’, for example in relation to business assets owned by one of you
• One or both of you has children from a previous marriage or relationship and wishes to protect assets for the purposes of inheritance planning
• One or both of you has a connection with, or property in, another jurisdiction.

The legal rules about these agreements come from the usual laws that apply to divorce, as well as the Supreme Court decision in 2010 (Radmacher v Granatino), which stated: “The court should give effect to a nuptial agreement that is freely entered into by each party with a full appreciation of its implications unless in the circumstances prevailing it would not be fair to hold the parties to their agreement.”

An agreement between adults cannot prejudice the interests of any children in your family. It is usual to build in provision for a review of the agreement so that if you have children, their needs can be considered and assessed at that time, with possible changes made to the expectations of the adults. Although not overly relevant in the cases of silver marriages it is worth noting as people like Robert De Niro are proving it may in fact be relevant!

What happens if a ‘silver marriage’ breaks down?

Not all silver marriages live happily ever after and the harsh reality is that these over 65s are defying the trend of divorce declining. The Office for National Statistics reported that “the number of men divorcing aged 65 and over went up by 23% and the number of women of the same age divorcing increased by 38%.” .

The ‘irretrievable breakdown’ of a marriage, the sole criterion for divorce in England and Wales, can bring further legal complications. As this article has addressed once married an individual’s assets can become mixed and without a prenup you may expose yourself to financial remedy claims. So, the key points to consider on the breakdown of a silver marriage are:

Financial remedy claims 

Divorce usually come some form of financial settlement. This is likely to be even more applicable with silver marriages as older couple may have greater assets than younger couples. 

The courts still have discretion to make awards which include house, savings, belongings which were accrued prior to the marriage.

Blended families can make the finances more complex and could lead to wider family fall outs. 

It is important to carefully consider what you both expect in the event of a relationship breakdown and ideally set this out in writing using a Nuptial Agreement. This will limit the potential for a dispute later.

Sharing vs needs 

In the family court in England and Wales the courts try to strike fairness in the equal division of the assets “(sharing”) and their current and future financial requirements (“needs”). 

Property which has been obtained, bought or otherwise accrued during the marriage is usually shared sometimes equally sometimes unequally. 

In silver marriages, where parties typically bring significant pre-marital assets into the marriage, these assets constitute “Non-matrimonial property” and are generally retained by the party who owns them. 

However, this is not always the case…. 

It maybe that the parties have treated them as shared over time causing the assets to become mingle or intertwined it which case they may have become matrimonial and therefore must be shared, or 

It may be that one party's financial “needs” cannot be met without recourse to non-matrimonial property. “Needs” have priority over “sharing”, and where a party's financial needs cannot be met without recourse to non-matrimonial property, fairness usually requires that such property be used to meet those needs.

A Nuptial Agreement can set out what assets (if any) are to be shared and which are to remain protected in the event of a relationship breakdown.

Short and long marriages 

Even if the silver marriage is short-lived there may still be financial claims. 

The length of the marriage is highly relevant when considering a financial settlement.

In short marriages, sometimes the court can decide that the parties should share the assets which have been obtain during the marriage (“matrimonial assets”) and they each keep the assets they brought into the marriage which have remained in their sole name (“non-matrimonial assets”). 

However, this is not always the case…

Assets brought into the marriage could still be shared having regard to the reality that the longer the marriage the more likely that those asset have been merged or entangled with the joint, matrimonial property. 

They could also be shared if one parties “needs” cannot be met from their non-matrimonial property and their share of the matrimonial property. 

Fairness usually requires that the assets of the parties should be divided primarily so as to make provision for the parties' housing and financial needs, which will usually have been generated by the marriage.

But the parties’ needs may justify an award which is greater than simply sharing the matrimonial assets equally. 

In Sir Paul McCartney’s case, he was married for four years and there was virtually no marital acquest. The court concluded that the vast bulk of the husband's enormous fortune was made before the marriage but that fairness required that the wife's needs (generously interpreted) to be met from those assets - 

In short, Silver Marriages do not automatically escape the courts principle of “sharing” or “needs”.

Another point to note is of course that life expectancy is increasing. People who marry at age 65 may live for another 21.2 years for females and 18.7 years for males . In this instances a “silver marriage” may well be  considered a “long” marriage. 

A Nuptial Agreement can help protect or limit the sharing of non-matrimonial assets. 

What steps should you take before remarrying later in life?

A lot has been covered in this article about the legal implications of remarrying later in life, if you have made it this far, we salute you. If you have skipped to the end, to find it broken down in short bullet points you in luck. Below is an actionable checklist of things to do and consider upon remarriage, there may be other things to consider that are not included in the below and it will depend on each couples particular situation so as always consider taking independent legal advice.

Checklist is as follows:

1. Have you updated your Will?
   1. Does this include provisions for your new spouse?
2. Have you reviewed your pensions and other financial plans?
   1. Who are the beneficiaries, best to ensure it is not your ex-spouse.
3. Do you need a prenuptial / postnuptial agreement?
4. Have you taken specific legal and financial advice in regard to your situation?

This list is a crucial checklist to consider when it comes to remarriage, undeniably not very romantic and not the first things on the mind of couples who have found love again, but it should be considered and implemented where possible to help safeguard against the legal complexities that the marriage carries.  

How our Family team can assist you

If you'd like further information or advice on any of the topics mentioned in this article, please contact Caroline Rushton, or a colleague in our Family team on 020 8290 0440.

 

Disclaimer
This article is intended for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. The law may have changed since the date of publication, and the application of the law will depend on your individual circumstances.

You should seek independent legal and financial advice before taking, or refraining from taking, any action based on the content of this article.