What are the Legal Benefits of Being Married?

We’ve outlined below just a few of the benefits that come with being married in England and Wales.

Inheritance Rights

Married couples have an automatic right to a partner’s estate when they die under the Rules of Intestacy, which apply if the partner who died didn’t leave a Will.

If you’re married and have children, there will be limits on how much your husband or wife can receive. But if you’re unmarried, the Rules of Intestacy won’t recognise your relationship unless it was outlined in a Will.

Parental Responsibility

Parental Responsibility involves certain rights and powers around making decisions affecting your child, these include:

• Choosing where your child goes to school
• Consenting to medical treatment or accessing medical records
• Taking your child abroad
• Deciding the religion your child should be brought up in

The most common ways for fathers to get parental responsibility for a child include being married to the mother when the baby is born or being named on the birth certificate.

Step-parents don’t automatically have parental responsibility. They can get it by agreement or with a court order.

Marriage Tax Breaks

One of the tax benefits available to married couples is the Marriage Allowance. To qualify, one partner must be a non-taxpayer and the other a basic rate taxpayer.

If you don’t pay tax, you can apply to transfer 10 percent of your personal tax allowance through HMRC and your partner will get a tax credit equivalent. This allowance only needs to be applied for once and will transfer automatically every tax year.

Married couples also benefit from not having to pay Inheritance Tax. For instance, if your partner died and left their whole Estate to you, you could claim any money and assets without any direct tax consequences.