Recent statistics reveal an increasing number of couples are choosing to marry prior to one of the couple dying.
In recent years there has been a distinct increase in cohabiting couples living as common law husband and wife. However, many of these common law spouses do not make their partnership legal. Many are unaware that their shared assets will not receive the same legal protections as couples that marry.
Assets do not pass freely to their partner upon death. 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 with 190 urgent marriage applications made in 2018.
Urgent marriages are conducted in a bid to ensure protections from inheritance tax, often made where at least one of the couple was suffering from poor health.
