Just Got Married? Here's Why Your Will Needs to Know About It
Getting married changes everything about who inherits your stuff — and what happens if you don't update your estate plans. Here's what actually changes and what to do about it.
By Willy Team · June 6, 2026 · 6 min read
Congratulations. You got married. You planned the whole thing, pulled it off, and now you're back in regular life — except your legal situation just changed in a bunch of ways nobody told you about at the reception.
One of the most important: your estate plan. Or more likely, the fact that you don't have one, or the one you have is now out of date.
Here's what actually changed and what you need to do about it.
Marriage changes the default rules — but not always in your favor
Most of us assume that because we're married, our spouse automatically inherits everything if we die. And in many cases, that's roughly true — but the details matter more than you'd think.
In states with community property laws (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin), assets acquired during the marriage are generally split 50/50 by default. In common law states, the rules are different. Some states give a surviving spouse a guaranteed minimum share. Others have elective share rules. Almost none of them do exactly what you'd actually want — which is why a will matters.
And if you die without a will and you have kids from a previous relationship? Your estate may be divided between your spouse and those kids in a way that leaves your spouse with less than you intended.
Your old will probably names the wrong beneficiaries
If you had a will before you got married, it almost certainly named someone other than your spouse as your primary beneficiary. Maybe a parent. A sibling. A best friend.
Some states automatically revoke a will (or parts of it) upon marriage. Others don't. In states where it doesn't, your old will can stand — meaning your ex-partner, your parents, or whoever you named years ago could still inherit instead of your spouse.
Get a new will. Don't try to figure out what your state does with the old one.
Your beneficiary designations are a separate problem
This is the part most of us miss. Your will doesn't control everything you own. Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and bank accounts with 'payable on death' designations all transfer directly to whoever is named as beneficiary on that account — completely bypassing your will.
If your 401(k) still has your mom listed as beneficiary from when you set it up at 23, that's where the money goes. Doesn't matter that you're married now. Doesn't matter what your will says.
Right after getting married — or honestly, right now if you just realized this — log into every financial account and update the beneficiary designations. It takes ten minutes and it matters more than almost anything else on this list.
Name your spouse as executor
The executor is the person who carries out your will — handles paperwork, pays debts, distributes assets. If your old will named a parent or sibling, your spouse is now probably the right person for that role.
They're the one who knows your situation best, is most affected by your death, and is most motivated to handle things properly. Name them first, and name a backup in case something happens to you both.
Think about what happens if you both die
This sounds morbid, but: what if you're in an accident together? If you die at the same time (or within a short period of each other), who inherits your combined estate?
Without instructions, this goes through the intestacy formula — meaning your assets could end up distributed across both families in ways that make no practical sense. A will with a 'contingent beneficiary' (a person or organization who inherits if your spouse can't) solves this cleanly.
Community property states have extra quirks
If you live in a community property state, the rules around what you can give away in a will are more complicated. Generally, you can only will your half of community property — your spouse already owns the other half.
This gets especially important if you have assets from before the marriage (separate property) mixed with assets acquired during the marriage (community property). Keeping records of what's what — and being explicit in your will — avoids a lot of confusion.
Married and still renting? You still need one
You might assume a will is for homeowners or those with significant assets. You don't need either of those things to need a will.
If you died tomorrow, your spouse would need clear documentation to close accounts, handle any debt, deal with your personal property, and take care of any pets. Without a will and an executor named, they're navigating a bureaucratic maze while grieving. You can spare them that.
When to actually do this
Honestly? Now. Or within the first few months of being married. Estate planning is one of those things that's easiest when there's a clear trigger — and 'we just got married' is exactly that trigger.
It takes about 15 minutes with an online platform. You can do it together, which many couples find useful — it opens conversations about what you each actually want, who you trust, and how you're thinking about the future.
Update it again when you have kids, buy a home, or your situation significantly changes. Otherwise, leave it alone and let it do its job.