Impacts of a second marriage
Second marriages in the UK come with some important additional legal considerations. A key consideration is that the spouse who is remarrying may have existing financial commitments to their old family, including paying spousal maintenance or child maintenance, pension sharing and other arrangements. This may result in the new partner applying pressure on the remarrying partner to terminate their existing family financial commitments. Second marriage also raises the issue of what happens in the event that the subsequent marriage comes to an end. How can the obligations to the second partner be met at the same time as those of the first partner?
Second marriage can have serious legal implications in a number of ways:
- Spousal Maintenance – A spouse who is making spousal maintenance payments and who goes on to remarry is still expected to honour these payments to their ex-spouse. Likewise, if an ex-partner receiving spousal maintenance goes on to remarry, they may lose their entitlement to financial support if their income and financial capacity increase as a result of their marriage.
- Child maintenance – If a remarried partner who is already paying child maintenance to children from a former marriage gets divorced, they may then be expected to pay further child maintenance payments for the children from their second marriage. This can cause any existing financial resources and capacity to be significantly stretched.
- Pension entitlement – Legal complications can arise if the second marriage results in divorce and the second ex-partner wants a share of a pension from the partner who remarried. This assumes that the pension formed part of a divorce financial settlement from the first marriage.
- Inheritance – Any Will you have made, which includes your existing family, will become effectively null and void when you remarry. This means that without a new valid Will being created, there is a chance that in the event of death, after you remarry, your assets may be divided according to the laws of intestacy, not your wishes.
Protecting Assets in a Second Marriage
One way to protect any existing assets if you remarry (e.g. for the benefit of your first family) is to have a pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreement drawn up. Nuptial agreements are set out between a couple who are about to get married or who are married, and what will happen to certain assets (e.g. money, inheritances, property, investments) owned before getting married in the event of divorce.
Many people choose to enter into a nuptial agreement when they get married for a second or subsequent time to protect their pre-marital assets. It is important to understand that a prenup is not legally binding in England and Wales. This means that if your second marriage ends in divorce and a judge is asked to make a decision on your financial settlement, they will take into account your nuptial agreement, but they are not required to abide by it fully. If, for example, your second married partner is entitled to a share of your pre-marital assets because your joint matrimonial assets will not meet their needs, a judge may disregard the pre-nuptial agreement in place. This may result in pre-marital assets such as pensions, property, and inheritances being shared with the second divorced partner.
What is a second wife entitled to in the UK?
A second wife is normally entitled to a fair division of the marital assets acquired during their marriage based on the needs of both parties. This may include possessions, property, vehicles, money, businesses, investments, pensions, and savings. However, for the second wife, there may be less ancillary relief (i.e. the share of the matrimonial pot) available if a spouse is already paying child support or spousal maintenance to an ex-wife from a previous marriage.
If a husband who remarries dies, the surviving spouse will normally receive their share of any joint assets (e.g. the family home) and receive any inheritance they are entitled to as set out in the Will. This assumes that a new Will was created after the second marriage because Wills are invalidated in the event of key life events such as getting remarried. This highlights the importance of writing a new Will if you get married. If the new will includes provision for children from a previous marriage from pre-marital assets (i.e., from the previous marriage), the will will normally be executed accordingly.
