Changing Your Will After Divorce in England: What You Must Know

Divorce Doesn't Revoke Your Will

There's a widespread misunderstanding that getting divorced cancels your existing will. It doesn't. Under Section 18A of the Wills Act 1837 (as amended), your will remains legally valid after divorce — but the law treats your ex-spouse as if they had died on the date the Final Order was granted.

That sounds like a tidy solution. It isn't.

What it actually means is that any gifts you left to your ex-spouse in the will simply fail. They don't automatically redirect to someone else you'd choose. Instead, they fall into the residuary estate (whatever's left after specific gifts), or if the failed gift was the residuary estate itself, they pass under intestacy rules.

And if your ex-spouse was named as the sole executor of your will, the will now has no acting executor — so the estate may need a grant of letters of administration with the will annexed, causing significant delays and expense during probate.

The Three Estate Planning Traps After Divorce

Trap 1: The Executor Gap

Many married couples name each other as executors. After divorce, the deemed predeceased rule removes your ex-spouse from the role, but it doesn't appoint a replacement. If no substitute executor was named in the will, your estate may require a grant of letters of administration with the will annexed — which is slower, more bureaucratic, and more expensive than a straightforward grant of probate.

The fix: name new executors in a fresh will. Choose people you trust completely — a sibling, a close friend, a professional executor (solicitor or trust company).

Trap 2: The Residuary Estate Problem

Consider this common will structure:

"I leave my jewellery to my daughter, my car to my son, and everything else to my spouse."

After divorce, the "everything else" gift fails. Your daughter gets the jewellery, your son gets the car, but the bulk of your estate — your property, savings, investments, pension death benefits passing under the will — falls into partial intestacy.

Under England's intestacy rules, the distribution depends on who survives you. If you have children, they inherit the residuary estate in equal shares (with amounts held in trust until they turn 18). If you have no children, it goes to your parents, then siblings. Your new partner — even if you've been living together for years — inherits nothing under intestacy unless you've written a new will naming them.

Trap 3: The Separation Danger Zone

All of the above only applies after the Final Order is granted. During the period of separation — even if you've been living apart for months or years — the marriage is still legally active. Your estranged spouse may still receive whatever the existing will leaves them, and if you die without a will, they inherit the whole estate if you have no children, or the first £322,000 plus half the remainder if you have children under the intestacy rules (as of April 2025).

This is why estate planning solicitors tell clients to write a new will the moment they separate, not when the divorce finalises.

What About Trusts for Children?

If your existing will created a trust for minor children with your ex-spouse as the trustee, that appointment is also affected by the deemed predeceased rule. The trust itself survives, but you may end up with no appointed trustee — or a substitute trustee named in the will who you no longer want in that role.

A new will lets you appoint guardians and trustees who reflect your current circumstances and wishes.

Writing a New Will: What to Include

A post-divorce will should cover:

• New executors — at least two, in case one is unable to act
• Guardians for minor children — who you want to raise your children if you die before they're adults
• Updated residuary beneficiaries — who gets everything after specific gifts
• Updated specific gifts — review every individual gift in light of your changed circumstances
• Funeral wishes — not legally binding but helpful for your executors
• A revocation clause — explicitly revoking all previous wills and codicils

A basic will drafted by a solicitor typically costs £150–£300. Some charities offer will-writing services during Will Aid month (November) for a suggested donation. Online will-writing services charge £30–£90 but may not catch complex issues around trusts or property.

Don't Put This Off

The period between divorce and writing a new will is one of the most vulnerable windows in your estate planning. If something happens to you during that gap, the results could be very different from what you'd want.

Estate restructuring is one part of the broader post-divorce transition. The England After-Divorce Checklist walks through every administrative and legal step — wills, pension beneficiary nominations, property transfers, and financial decoupling — in the right order.

See more England guides →