Published on: 8th February 2021

Separated but still married

John and Mary were hippies who met at the Isle of Wight festival in 1970. They both had an interest in rock music and art and spent much of the summer together moving between rock festivals.

They married soon after Glastonbury 1971. They had a very relaxed lifestyle and when Mary got a job as an assistant at an art gallery in London John decided he wanted to travel the world. He took his guitar with him and became a travelling busker. Mary started to become well known in art circles and her career took off. She received the occasional letter from John but after a few letters from Goa she stopped hearing from him.

Mary was committed to her work and as the years went by she became a well known artist with many friends in the industry. Mary had a couple of long term relationships but enjoyed her independence and when the relationships got a bit too “heavy” and marriage was in the air she easily swerved the problem because she was already married. This suited her lifestyle.

With lots of friends and no children Mary was always rethinking which of her friends and art charities should benefit from her ever increasing Estate. In fact she never got round to making a Will and died in the first Covid wave in April 2020.

Mary was separated but still married and so because she had no Will her entire Estate including her paintings, money and personal effects went to John. Her friends and the art charities received nothing. John was now back in England and inherited the entire Estate tax free. This is not what Mary would have wanted.

If you are separated you are still married as far as the Law of Succession is concerned.

If you would like to discuss this matter or any other relating to Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney or Trusts in more detail then please contact our friendly team on 01732 868190 or click here to book an appointment.

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