As we get closer to Christmas and beyond, it is a sad fact that divorce rates begin to rise. January has historically been the busiest time of year for divorce lawyers.
When you make a Will there are a number of life events that can impact its validity. One of these is marriage. Under UK law, marriage automatically cancels out a Will made before the date of the marriage, rendering it invalid.
The number of cohabiting couples has more than doubled from 1.5 million in 1996 to 3.3 million in 2017. A campaign has been launched calling for a change in the law to support couples who live together.
There is a wide spread belief in the UK of the existence of ‘common law’ marriage, that if a couple live together long enough they become ‘common law’ husband and wife and acquire similar rights to a married couple or civil partnership.
