The name ‘Mirror Will’ refers to the special nature of the Wills, which are designed to be almost identical and which centre around protecting each other if one or both of those writing the will should die. Although partners living together can just as easily have two separate Wills, making a Mirror Will can provide reassurance, especially in today’s more complex modern family setups, where the absence of a Will could mean your children or a partner will not benefit from your estate. It can also be more time and cost efficient to write a Mirror Will rather than two separate Wills.
The following is a brief guide to the main benefits of drawing up a Mirror Will with your partner:
Writing a Mirror Will protects you and your partner’s financial future, particularly in situations where you are not automatically entitled to inherit the estate (for example, where you are not married or in a civil partnership). The Mirror Will approach can ensure you or your partner will not be left without a home or financial security – an all too common occurrence where a person dies intestate. Careful planning for the future will ensure everything is taken care of, giving you peace of mind.
A Mirror Will usually includes information on how the estate should be distributed to your children should both parents die at the same time. You can also state who you wish to appoint as a guardian for your children, and trustees to protect your estate until your children grow up.
Inheritance Tax can drain an estate considerably without careful tax planning, as a deduction will be made on your estate on anything over and above the Inheritance Tax ‘nil band rate’ (currently £325,000). The good news for married couples is that the nil rate band is transferable to your surviving spouse. With a Mirror Will leaving the estate to your spouse, the unused Inheritance Tax allowance of the deceased transfers to the surviving spouse. This amount is then added to the last surviving spouse’s allowance when they die (assuming the legislation is unaltered at that time). If the estate is valued at less than double the Inheritance Tax nil rate band, there will be no Inheritance Tax chargeable on the second partner’s death. By tax planning in this way, you can ensure that those you wish to inherit from you after both and your spouse die, can benefit as much as possible from your estate.
Usually, a person will appoint their spouse as an executor (the person appointed to administer your estate when you die). However, it is recommended that you appoint at least one other person on your Mirror Will should you both die at the same time. This way, you can appoint someone both of you believe to be trustworthy and capable of honestly administering your estate for the benefit of your children. We also highly recommend that you appoint substitute executors in the event that your first choices die before you do, or if they cannot or do not wish to act as executor when the time comes.
Despite Mirror Wills usually being almost identical in content, there is no need to appoint the same executor in each Will. You are perfectly entitled to appoint different executors to look after your estate.
Unlike a Joint Will, with a Mirror Will you are free to change your Will at any time. Although your Will and wishes may be identical to your partner’s, your Will is yours alone rather than a joint agreement between two people and it therefore remains possible for you to alter it any time you wish without needing the permission of the other person.
Yes. Although these are treated as two separate accounts, so you simply need to mirror your wishes in each document.
We do this, as couples often have individual gifts or messages they’d like to leave to different people, like old school friends, or children from a previous marriage.
