Partner terminally ill - should we get married?

[Butterbeanbutterbo]

My partner is terminally ill, probably now in final months of life, and we are considering getting married. We have been together over 20 years and have a now-adult child. What are the pros and cons of doing this? We know it would mean me being eligible for bereavement allowance once my partner dies. Also that we would have to change our wills to reflect the fact we’re married. Anything else we need to think about? Note we are below the inheritance tax threshold. I currently have power of attorney for health and finances.

You don’t have to change will on marriage, the previous would become invalid so might wish to,

You would have to make a new will if previous will contained any bequests other than to spouse/partner - sibling, niece/nephew, charity etc - and you wanted those to stand.

Organisations only want to deal with executors. I don’t think they’d deal with a child without legal authority.

My experience as executor for my late father was that it was surprisingly easy to pass money to my married mother - I think there is an informal limit of 40k or so after which the banks want the probate finalised before they will act. The hardest company to deal with were a services provider; relatively small
amount of money and they wanted paper copies of everything sent.

Two things that were really hard when my dad died - his devices (all Apple) and the car. Obviously these are ‘things’
and not important in the same
way as people, but they come back to bite you on the bum when you are grieving.

the Apple devices. We gave up on the phone. The brand new computer and tablet we managed to get to a point we could use after weeks of research but neither is fully
operational.

The car - this was one of the worst experiences of my life. It was less than a year old, registered in his name only and essentially uninsurable to anyone else. I desperately needed to get the maximum money for my mother. We tried everything to sort insurance or get it picked up from home and ended up having to drive it uninsured to a dealer. I was sick with anxiety. It was also a self charging hybrid with a flat battery - that was a learning curve too.

How are you today Butterbean? Just a thought, are you his Next of Kin? If not have that changed today.

You are wrong.
Probate is about tge size of the estate, not who the estate is left to.
This has already been further up thread.
Being married does not mean probate is not needed.
There are many positives to being married in this situation, but probate is not one of them

I don't know if it's been mentioned already, but there's a Government service "tellusonce" that is really useful - does what it says.