IHTM12074 - Revocation of a will: by marriage or civil partnership

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, it is still a general rule that marriage automatically revokes a will.

A new S18 of the Wills Act 1837 is substituted by S18 (1) Administration of Justice Act 1982 which provides that a will made on or after 1 January 1983 is no longer revoked by marriage if at the time the will was made

• the testator or testatrix ( IHTM12001) was expecting to marry a particular person, and
• they did not intend to revoke his will by the subsequent marriage to that person.

The equivalent provision applying to wills made in Northern Ireland on or after 1 January 1983 is S12 Wills and Administration Proceedings (NI) Order 1994.

The formation of a civil partnership ( IHTM11032) will generally revoke a will. However, as with marriages, if it appears from a will that the testator was expecting to form a civil partnership with a particular person and intended that the will should not be revoked by the formation of the civil partnership, the will is not revoked. This is provided for in Sch 4 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 for civil partnerships in England and Wales and in Sch 14 of CPA 2004 for civil partnerships in Northern Ireland.