Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Inheritance (Provisions for Family and Dependents) Act 1975. TWM Solicitors, a leading private client and family wealth law firm, says that the Act marked a radical change by providing women a much fairer share of their husband’s estate.
The Act brought in sweeping changes and was a departure from the previous 1938 Act. Chief among the key reforms was the idea of equality between spouses, that widows and widowers should be no worse off on death than divorce and the idea that eventually became known as the “sharing principle”.
This “sharing principle” meant that spouses were entitled to a proper share of all marital assets, rather than simply being given maintenance payments from their spouse’s estate.
The major beneficiaries of the 1975 Act were wives who became entitled to make a claim for half (or more where needs required) of all of the marital estate, even if they had not contributed financially.
The new law also removed several restrictions on which children could make a claim for the assets in their parent’s estate, broadening out the number of people who would be able to make a claim. Before the Act, unmarried daughters and sons over the age of 21 could not make a claim on their deceased parents’ estate.
Stuart Downey, Partner and Head of the Will, Trust and Estate Disputes team at TWM Solicitors says: “The legislation had a huge practical impact on the living standards of the surviving wife.”
“Under the previous law widowed women could potentially see a dramatic drop in their lifestyle – for example being forced to leave their family home or having their spending power severely curtailed.”
“The previous set of rules also excluded people who otherwise should have been entitled to a share of the estate – including married daughters, sons over the age of 21, as well as nieces and nephews that were dependents.”
“Giving more adult children the right to make a claim on the estate went a long way to ensure that inheritance rules were a lot more equitable.”
“Unless they were explicitly named within a Will, these family members wouldn’t have had a claim to the estate until the 1975 Inheritance Act was introduced.”
“Not only were wives’ contributions to the marriage overlooked before 1975, many wives often ended up with less than if they had divorced their partners.”
More needs to be done to reform inheritance law to account for cohabiting couples and families with children from previous marriages
Stuart Downey suggests that significant reforms now need to be made to the legislation to bring the Inheritance Act up to date.
For example, the current rules around inheritance don’t wholly account for ‘cohabiting’ partners – couples who are unmarried but are living together. UK census data in 2021 shows that 24.3% couples are cohabiting, up from 20.6% in 2011, as marriage becomes less common.
Under the current law, cohabiting partners are only able to claim for maintenance payments and don’t get an actual “share” of the wealth that a spouse would be entitled to.
Stuart Downey adds: “There is still more that needs to be done to update the law to account for the variety of family types that are common these days.”
“Some couples may be living together for decades as unmarried partners, only to find that, if no Will has been prepared, they aren’t entitled to a share of their partner’s estate. This could mean they have to move out of the home they have shared and into rental accommodation.”
Additionally, Stuart adds that blended families (e.g. a family including children from previous marriages), may also face difficulties under the current inheritance rules when making claims to their parent’s estate.
In the event where a Will isn’t left behind, the first £322,000 of the estate is given to the spouse, with the remainder being split evenly with the spouse and a person’s children.
Where the estate is less than £322,000 or what ls left is not enough for the child/children, those children would need to make a claim to the estate (where there is no Will). However, children under the age of 18 wouldn’t be able to make a claim on their own. TWM argues that inheritance laws should take this into account to ensure minor children are not left out.
