Why do simple wills fail in a second marriage?
You have built a new life with someone, and you have children from before. You want to do right by everyone — and the danger is assuming a standard will does that automatically. It doesn't. There is also a legal wrinkle many remarried people never hear about: marriage revokes your existing will (unless it was made in contemplation of that marriage). If you made a will years ago and have since remarried, you may be completely unprotected right now — see changing your will for how revocation works.
Can leaving everything to a new spouse disinherit your children?
This is the trap. You leave everything to your new spouse, trusting they will look after your children eventually. But:
- Once your estate passes to your spouse, it is theirs — what happens to it next is governed by their will, not yours.
- Your spouse can change their will at any time, for any reason, without telling you. No promise, however sincere, is legally binding.
- If your spouse dies without a will, or remarries (which revokes their will), the estate follows the intestacy rules — and stepchildren inherit nothing. Your children could watch everything pass to your spouse's own children or new partner.
- Even mirror wills don't fully solve this: either party can change theirs later.
This "sideways disinheritance" is one of the most common ways children lose an inheritance — usually with no malice involved at all.
What can an online will do in a second marriage?
A properly drafted will can provide for both sides of your family, openly and in fixed proportions. With SwiftWill you can:
- Make specific gifts to your children on your death — cash sums, jewellery, or other items that pass to them immediately, whatever happens later.
- Split the residue by percentage — for example 60% to your spouse and 40% shared between your children, or any split you choose.
- Name your own executors, including an adult child, so someone with your children's interests at heart administers the estate.
What an online will cannot do is let your spouse use assets for the rest of their life while guaranteeing they pass to your children afterwards — that requires a trust, which brings us to the honest part.
When does a second marriage need a solicitor?
We are will writers, not a law firm — and second marriages are exactly where we most often tell people an online will may not be enough. See a solicitor if you want:
- a life interest trust, so your spouse can live in the home or receive income for life, with the capital protected for your children;
- property protection or discretionary trusts of any kind;
- inheritance tax planning — the nil-rate band is £325,000, the residence nil-rate band adds £175,000 for homes passing to direct descendants, and transferable allowances can give a couple up to £1m between them, but blended families complicate the arithmetic;
- protection where relations between your spouse and your children are already strained.
Our page do I need a solicitor for a will? explains where the line sits.
How do you make an online will if a second marriage is straightforward?
If your plan is simply "some to my spouse, some to my children, in fixed shares", an online will does that cleanly. Decide your percentages and any specific gifts, then start your will — it takes about 15 minutes and costs £35 one-time, with free updates for life and no upsells. Your spouse should make theirs too (a pair of matching wills is £55). Then print and sign in wet ink before two witnesses together, as s.9 of the Wills Act 1837 requires — an unsigned will protects no one.