How you can benefit from getting married...

Posted on: 04/03/2025

Category: For you

On Thursday 13 February, the Martin Lewis Money Show covered various financial aspects of marriage, civil partnerships and divorce. A couple gains many benefits as a result of being married or in a civil partnership, as opposed to couples that are cohabiting. In fact, there are financial disadvantages to waiting to get married, as the benefits will kick in as soon as you make it official.

Some of the benefits for both married couples and couples in a civil partnership include:

A £1,260 tax break

Providing that one half of the couple was born after April 1935 and the other is a non-taxpayer, the non-tax paying spouse can apply to give part of their tax-free personal allowance to their tax-paying spouse.

If eligible, a tax-paying spouse can also claim up to four years' worth of income tax, leading to savings of up to £5,040.

Maximising both savings and investment allowances

Married spouses or couples within a civil partnership can freely transfer money between Savings & Investments accounts without risk of incurring Inheritance Tax. They can utilise this benefit to make maximum use of each person’s tax allowances.

Spouses can also move assets between them without incurring Capital Gains Tax, up to a £3,000 per year tax allowance. If one spouse exceeds this allowance, some can be passed to the other to use up both allowances.

It is also worth considering how this can benefit a couple when one spouse is a 20% taxpayer and the other is at the higher rate of 40% income tax.

Death is where marriage counts

Although it is a difficult topic to consider, marriage can often bring a level of reassurance in the event that one spouse dies.

In terms of Inheritance Tax, anything left to your surviving spouse is exempt from Inheritance Tax, so there is no tax to pay on anything passed to them. Additionally, all unused IHT allowance is passed on to your spouse but this benefit is only available to married couples and those in civil partnerships.

Additionally, ISA allowances can also be passed to your spouse, which gets added to their allowance. This works even if the money in your ISA isn’t left to your spouse.

Lastly, if one-half of the couple dies without a Will in place, Intestacy laws will kick in, meaning that the surviving spouse may still get part of the estate. However, if the couple is unmarried or not in a civil partnership, the surviving partner may get nothing and could even lose the home that they would otherwise have inherited.

It is worth noting that when you get married or enter a civil partnership, your existing Will is invalidated and you will need to write a new one. However, in the event of a divorce, your ex-spouse is effectively treated as though they have died and will by default not receive anything. In this case, it may also make sense to write a new Will.

In conclusion

There are clear benefits to getting married or entering a civil partnership, such as tax breaks and opportunities to maximise savings and investment allowances. These become available to a couple in a marriage or civil partnership as soon as they are legally bound together. There are even benefits to marriage in the event of death.

However, it’s important to note that you shouldn’t get into debt just for your wedding day. You don’t even have to have a fancy wedding. If you’d still like the financial and legal benefits of being a married couple without the fuss, know that a civil partnership is available to you.

Thank you to the Martin Lewis Money Show for researching and compiling this valuable resource. You can watch the episode here.