Deathbed marriage

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Tonight my dying father expressed his regret, for the second time, that he didn’t marry his partner.

Can he do this but keep his will unchanged?
Would she be entitled to his widows pension, even though the marriage might only be days or weeks long?
Is it allowed for him to marry, if it’s while he’s lucid, even if he might be confused at others points in the day?

Their love is genuine. They kept separate homes but she spent most nights at his house until he needed live in carers last year.

When he met her, he was upfront that he would never remarry, partly because he didn’t want to complicate /mess up his will / our inheritance, and partly because, having cared for my mother through a terrible illness, he couldn’t face going through that again, or asking someone else to go through it for him.

He looked into whether he could secure the widows pension for her on the grounds of her being financially dependent on him, but this wasn’t possible, particularly since she stopped spending nights there after he had carers.

He is enormously grateful for her care for him (which he never expected nor asked for), feels his love for her intensely, and is kicking himself for not marrying her - I think he hates that he let the finances overshadow the romantic feelings.

is it too late, or can he still marry her? He absolutely wouldn’t want to risk messing up the will, and neither would she since she is the least money-grabbing person ever and understands the optics of a poorer woman with a wealthy man. And a fair bit of his concern is about wanting her better provided for, with the widows pension. As it stands she will get £80,000 in the will which she doesn’t know about, and she owns her own home, but the pension would make an enormous difference.

Thank you so much for reading. And I’m sorry it isn’t succinct - it’s an emotional and exhausting time.

He would need a new will made in anticipation of marriage

I often talk to a welfare rights worker who works for a cancer charity.

Sadly she sees a lot of deathbed marriages and wills made at the last moment

So go for it and let him die without at least one regret

I understand that a marriage negates previous wills so he would have to write a new will. You would have to check the terms of his pension to make sure it would go to his partner. I'm sorry to hear your father doesn't have long to live. You could consult a solicitor. It also depends on how long it will take to organise the marriage. Ordinarily you have to wait 29 days but you can apply for a waiver if someone is seriously ill. Your father could have the will drafted and then sign it directly after getting married I think or make the will in anticipation of marriage. Perhaps you could set the wheels in motion.

@JohnofWessex thank you so much, that’s really helpful. Sorry to be cheeky and add a further question, but:

Could that be as simple as the solicitor basically redoing the old will with just a bit added about it being in anticipation of marriage or is it more complicated?

( I’m aware that his time and energy are extremely limited.)

His will would be invalidated by the marriage so he would need to make a new one after to wedding to protect your inheritance

PP suggests he could do this ahead of the marriage if the will mentions the planned marriage…? So that may be an option.

Speak to the solicitor who made the original will. They should be able to redraft it for him to sign based on what it already says.

Thank you all so much.

I’ll check with the solicitor in the morning how quickly they could potentially do that, then tell my father his new option. (I think it would need to be done in the next few days in order for him to still be lucid.)

Thank you all for your kindness and time - hugely grateful.

We did this last year. Dh had a terminal diagnosis and was released from hospital the same day. We married the next day at home. All arranged within hours by the registrar. He died 11 days later. Unable to make a new will as not enough time despite solicitor attending at home four days later. Old will invalidated by our marriage. I inherited everything. Some pension companies were easy to deal with and some were not so easy. However without being married it would have been a lot more difficult to ensure I inherited those pensions. I would also have been liable for inheritance tax and other issues. Please ensure that the pension documentation is up to date stating his wishes that she inherits. (Cannot remember the name of the actual document - statement of wishes?)
However I was investigated by insurance companies. Which was easily refuted but did take 3 months to resolve.

As a former pension trustee I can say that there is a lot to consider here. If he is looking for her to receive a widow’s pension from his private/works pension then I advise check the rules of the scheme. Most older defined benefit / final salary schemes have a clause relating to age difference between member/pensioner & spouse. The scheme I was a trustee of had a clause that wouldn’t pay a spouse’s pension if the surviving spouse was 15 years younger. Many schemes have changed their rules to allow non married partners to receive a spouses pension where a letter of wishes has been submitted. Really the best thing to do is contact the scheme administrator to clarify what the rules are.
If they marry & no new will is made then the estate will be distributed under the rules of intestacy.