do mirror wills protect my children?

Mirror wills on their own don’t fully protect your children. They work well while you’re both alive, and they say the right things. But once the first of you dies, everything usually passes to the survivor, and the survivor can tear up their will and write a new one whenever they like. If you want your children to be sure of inheriting your share, you need a trust written into the wills as well.

That doesn’t mean mirror wills are bad. For a lot of couples they’re exactly right. It just means they’re not the whole answer if protecting the children is the main point.

what are mirror wills, exactly?

They’re two separate wills that match each other. Each of you leaves everything to the other, and then, once you’ve both gone, everything goes to the same people, usually your children.

They’re popular because they’re simple and they’re good value. My mirror wills are £249 for the pair, and you can see everything that’s included on my wills page.

so where’s the gap?

Two wills that match on the day you sign them don’t have to stay matching. Each one belongs to the person who made it.

Say Steve and Emma, from Doncaster, make mirror wills. Everything to each other, then split equally between their two daughters, Holly and Grace. Emma dies first. Her will does what it says, and everything passes to Steve.

At that point, Emma’s will has done its job. It has nothing more to say. Steve now owns the lot, and his will is just his will. He can change it next week, next year, or twenty years from now. Nothing in law makes him stick to what he and Emma agreed.

Most people in Steve’s position would never dream of cutting out their children. But it doesn’t have to be deliberate.

what if the survivor remarries?

This is the big one. Marriage cancels any existing will in England and Wales. So if Steve remarries, the mirror will he made with Emma is revoked on his wedding day. If he doesn’t make a new one, his new wife gets a large share of everything under the intestacy rules, including what came from Emma. I’ve gone through this in more detail in what happens if my husband or wife remarries.

what else could go wrong?

A few things I’d want you to know about:

• The survivor falls out with one of the children and changes their will in a bad moment.
• A new partner moves in and the house goes into joint names.
• The survivor is persuaded, gently or otherwise, to leave things differently later in life.

None of these are rare. They’re just ordinary life over a long stretch of time.

can’t we just agree not to change them?

There is something called mutual wills, where a couple agree in a legally binding way that the survivor won’t change their will. They exist, but they’re unusual, hard to enforce, and they can tie the survivor’s hands in ways nobody intended. Most of the time there’s a cleaner way to do it.

how do you close the gap?

You keep the mirror wills, but instead of each of you leaving your share of the house straight to the other, you leave it into a trust. The survivor can still live in the home for life, and can move if they need to. But the first person’s share is ring-fenced. The survivor can’t give it away, and a remarriage can’t touch it. When the survivor dies, it goes to the children.

For Steve and Emma, that would mean Emma’s half of the house goes into trust when she dies. Steve stays put. Holly and Grace get their mum’s half in the end, whatever happens in Steve’s life after.

To make this work, you usually need to own your home as tenants in common, so each share can pass through your will. I’ll check this with you and sort the paperwork if it needs changing.

do we definitely need a trust?

Not always. If you’ve no children, or you’re relaxed about the survivor having complete freedom, simple mirror wills may be all you need. I’ll tell you if that’s the case. I’d rather do the right thing than sell you something you don’t need.

If you already have mirror wills and you’re not sure what they actually do, I’m happy to take a look. Give me a call and I’ll come out to you.

This is general information, not legal advice for your situation. I’m not a solicitor — I’m a will writer, and I’ll tell you if you need one.