Will, widowed, divorce and IHT

[Hohofortherobbers]

Hi, wonder if someone might know this, but understand we will need it confirmed by a solicitor as it's potentially very costly. If a man had a mirror will and was widowed. Then he remarried but divorced the second wife , is his original will valid? I assume it was invalidated upon his second marriage but as he is now divorced is it valid again?
Also, if he didn't use his late wife's full nil rate IHT band, is this still usable now since he remarried and divorced the second wife?
Thank you

No, a Will is invalidated on marriage

He needs to go and make new will, using an appropiate solicitor.

No. His remarriage invalidated his will. The fact he is now divorced is irrelevant. His will remains invalid. And yes, he can still use his first wife's unused nil rate band for IHT.

Thank you all, appreciate your help

@prh47bridgejust for clarity, he did not make a new will when he married his second wife.
Is the original will still invalid? Thank you

Yes, remarriage invalidates the original will which is then nil and void whatever else happens. From that moment on, he will die intestate until he writes a new will.

Yes, as the previous poster says marriage automatically invalidated his previous will even though he did not make a new will. He became intestate when he remarried and will remain intestate until he makes a new will.

Thank you both for your time, really appreciate it

The people responding to the post are, disappointingly, making assumptions about domicile.

The UK is and always has been his permanent home.

Another spanner in the works is he has developed dementia and started making unwise financial decisions. His dc invoked the poa for his finances last summer. Am I right that means he can no longer write a new will?

English and Welsh law are different from Scottish and NI law though.

True. It would be different if OP is in Scotland. Mumsnet users are overwhelmingly from the UK. Only around 7% of Mumsnet users are from Scotland and they often say they asking about Scottish law, so answering assuming the law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will usually be correct. However, if Scottish law applies to OP's case, marriage did not invalidate his will so his original will is still valid.

Apologies, England

So, currently this man is classed as being intestate,.. If he is unable to make a new Will due to a lack of capacity, does this mean his 2nd wife who he is divorced from, will inherite under the rules of dying without a Will?
Watching with interest OP as this could apply to a friend of mine

Can an ex wife make a claim if he's intestate? I thought rules of intestacy would be his dc shared all assets equally. He wasn't diagnosed with dementia when she divorced him. She's also independently wealthy.

No she cannot. If an umarried person dies intestate then their whole estate is shared equally between their children.

If one of their children has died before the person then any children of the deceased child (so, the grandchildren) will inherit in their place

[EDIT]

Sorry, forgot to say that 'children' doesn't include step-children, only biological children (and adopted children too).

Potentially, yes. However, there is the possibility of making a Will on their behalf via the Court of Protection.
https://www.gov.uk/apply-statutory-will

How does the IHT thing work?

I assumed if you are divorced you don’t get the spousal allowance.

so if you’re widowed anything you inherit from your spouse is IHT free. Then even though you’re married and divorced since your IHT is as if you’re still widowed?

what if I’m divorced but never been widowed? Do I only get 325/500 IHT allowance?

as for the dementia thing- see a solicitor. My aunt had dementia and we had PoA to assist with financial issues. However she was still deemed competent to make a will as she knew who everyone was, was clear in her choices, and was able to rationalise why she made the will she did. The solicitor spoke to her on her own and was happy there was no coercion, as did social services.

do that asap as the longer you leave it the less likely he may be able to make those decisions.

Thank you @Usernamenotfound1
The IHT nil rate band useage is because, as you say, no IHT chargeable when late wife died. That means her £325k IHT allowance was never used and can be added to her husband's allowance when he dies, so instead of a single person's £325k allowance, his estate will have a £650k allowance when its passed to his dc. Plus more if primary residence is part of the assets.
I believe this is right, if I have got that wrong at all then pps can correct me.

I think if he hadn't divorced second wife then he may not have been able to use the late wife's nil rate band, that bit i don't know. But is irrelevant for him now. May be useful for other posters to know though

@Usernamenotfound1 - If you are divorced and have never been widowed, you only get £325k nil rate band, in addition to which you are entitled to £175k Residence Nil Rate Band (RNRB) if you leave a property worth at least that much to your direct descendants.

If you are widowed, anything your spouse leaves to you is free of IHT and you get any unused portion of their nil rate band and RNRB to add to your own, allowing you to potentially leave up to £1M without any IHT liability. Remarriage and divorce doesn't affect this. As long as you were married at the time of death, you are entitled to get any of their unused nil rate band and RNRB.

"I think if he hadn't divorced second wife then he may not have been able to use the late wife's nil rate band, that bit i don't know."

To answer that specific question, even if he was still married to his second wife then he would still get the IHT allowance from his first wife.

At that point it can get complicated if you have a very large estate.

In this situation the husband has £1 million in IHT allowance. If he dies before the second wife then the most that he can pass on to her is only £500k of IHT allowance. So that leaves him (or rather his estate) with £500k of unused allowance.

In that case he can pass on £500k of assets to his children (or whoever) without there being any IHT to pay and also pass on £500k of unused allowances to his second wife. She will then have £1 million in IHT allowances when she eventually dies.

(I'm assuming here that they can use the £175k residential nil rate band on top of the £325k nil rate band)