Not married? Not in a Civil Partnership? Here’s some good reasons to consider doing the deed..
I often get sent a client’s profile (family, money, wishes, fears etc.) and spend more time than I should on considering all of the angles, things they should consider doing to improve their situation. Imagine a dice, multi facetted, each side different options. I have encouraged quite a few unhitched couples to step forward and consider either getting married or if that’s not their thing, opting for a civil partnership.
In my book as an analytical accountant, yes I am one of those if you didn’t know, the numbers ‘do’ matter, particularly as we get older and our circumstances change. Getting the latest Martin Lewis email that contains an article specifically about this, has made me create this short post in an attempt, if you’re reading this to take a look at what he’s saying, it all make sense to me because I am aware of all these points, but you may not be!
Here’s a short summary, read his blog and come back to me if you’d like to discuss this further:
- the ‘marriage tax allowance’ could reduce your income tax each year, this also applies to civil partnerships! It’s just called this..
- ‘spouse/civil partner exemption’ applies to any money or assets transferred between you
- pass on your unused Inheritance Tax nil rate band, and residence nil rate band to the surviving spouse/partner on your death to reduce your exposure to IHT
- move money or savings between you to make sure you both use all of your tax-free allowances
- maximise use of capital gains tax allowances
- if your relationship ends, you will have far more protections available to you and your family
- you may get a bigger state pension if your spouse/civil partner dies
- you can inherit your spouse/civil partner’s ISA allowances and maintain the tax-free status when the ISAs are transferred to you
- NOT getting hitched doesn’t protect you from being treated as a couple
You can read the detail here as I’ve said.. Martin Lewis blog
Don’t have Wills in place?
The other side of the coin to this, is that not having Wills in place if you’re not married or in a civil partnership, will mean that your partner and children are not properly provided for if one of you dies – you knew that right??
