Recent statistics have found that more couples are choosing to marry prior to one of the couple dying.
In recent years there has been a significant increase in cohabiting couples living as common law husband and wife. Unfortunately, many of these common law spouses fail to make their partnership legal, confident that their shared assets will receive the same legal protections as couples that marry.
Unfortunately, this is not the case and unmarried couples can face the devastating realisation that their assets will not pass freely to their partner upon death. Instead, the person left behind can face inheritance tax problems that could force those that are grieving to sell their house to fund the tax bill.
According to the Home Office and Passport Office, there was a significant increase in the number of applications for urgent marriages.
In a bid to ensure protections from inheritance tax, many urgent marriages were made by couples, where at least one was suffering from poor health.
The Passport Office’s most recent statistics suggest that 190 urgent marriage applications were made in 2018; this equates to an 11% increase from 2017’s figures.
By applying for a registrar General’s Licence to get married or enter a civil partnership when in urgent circumstances, the registrar has the power to marry the couple in any location at any time. It seems as though marriages made under these circumstances are usually made for pragmatic reasons and are increasing in popularity.
Having been together for over forty years, comedian Ken Dodd married Lady Anne Dodd just before he died.
Whilst such a relationship must be commended for demonstrating love, respect and friendship for so long, the marriage itself helped in the prevention of his estate being ripped apart because of inheritance tax obligations.
It is predicted that Ken Dodd’s estate is worth around £7.2 million; without the marriage, this would have led to over £2 million being owed in inheritance tax.
Whilst more protections are being offered for common law couples, it would seem that the additional protections that urgent marriages create will mean that this form of marriage may increase further in the future.
Should a couple be forced into these extreme circumstances in the final moments of their relationship? Are there further ways to protect the joint estate in common law relationships?
