Hypothetical re wills

A widow wills all her money to her sons the be shared equally between. Then she marries John which invalidates that will and makes her husband John the beneficiary. This is right?

Can she then make a new will giving it all back to the sons while she is still married to John and he is still alive

This is a hypothetical question based on something I read in a novel

Allinall

I would have thought the original will would still be force.

The new husband would have no claim on her estate.

That's just my thoughts as a lay person.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119845671#Comment_119845671

No, getting married would make the husband the beneficiary I'm sure. But i didn't think she could cut out the husband and give it all back to sons while she married and husband is alive

The book was set in the UK. i am curious if Ireland is the same law

You’d need to look into whether new husband has entitlements over her estate or not or whether he has renounced any entitlement - considering she has children he may well be entitled to 1/3rd of her estate regardless of the Will

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/death/the_deceaseds_estate/what_happens_the_deceaseds_estate.html

coylemj

A widow wills all her money to her sons the be shared equally between. Then she marries John which invalidates that will and makes her husband John the beneficiary. This is right?

Not quite. You are correct in that original will is invalidated by the marriage but if she doesn't make a new will and dies intestate, her husband will inherit 2/3 of her estate and the sons will share the remaining 1/3. To make the husband the beneficiary of her entire estate, she must make a new will to that effect.

Can she then make a new will giving it all back to the sons while she is still married to John and he is still alive?

No, she can't. As there are children, her spouse is entitled to inherit a minimum of 1/3 of the estate. If there was no children, he would be entitled to 1/2 of her estate.

Peregrinus

If you marry, that automatically invalidates any will you made previously (unless you made it in contemplation of the marriage). The assumption underlying this rule is that marriage is such a fundamental change in your family and relationships that all bets are off, so to speak - you need to make a new will.

Yes, you can make a new will, but note that your new spouse will have rights that can't be taken away from them.

They can, however, agree to surrender them. It's common when someone who already has a family (and has a bit of property) marries a second time for their to be an express agreement about inheritance on both sides, to protect the interests of the existing family (and of the spouse's existing family, if they also have one). This can involve the spouse's agreeing to surrender their fixed legal entitlements to one another's estates and make some other arrangement that is more appropriate to their circumstances.

(This is the kind of thing that, ideally, you should reach an agreement about before you make a second marriage, obviously.)

Claw Hammer

Getting married invalidates a will unless the will is made in contemplation of the marriage.

Succession Act 1965

85. —(1) A will shall be revoked by the subsequent marriage of the testator, except a will made in contemplation of that marriage, whether so expressed in the will or not.