Guide · rules for England and Wales, checked 2 October 2026
Mirror wills, and what they mean for care fees
Most couples make mirror wills: each leaves everything to the other, then to the children. It is simple and it suits many families. But the survivor ends up owning everything, and that matters for second marriages, for children from an earlier relationship, and for care fees.
What a mirror will is
Mirror wills are two separate wills, one for each of you, written in matching terms. Each of you signs your own will, with its own two witnesses. The usual pattern is:
- Each of you leaves everything to the other.
- If the other has already died, everything goes to the same people, usually the children, in the same shares.
A mirror will is not a joint will. A joint will is one document signed by two people. It is very rare in England and Wales and solicitors generally avoid it. Mirror wills are also not the same as mutual wills, which are covered below.
What happens when the first of you dies
Everything passes to the survivor, and the survivor owns it outright. From that moment the survivor’s own will is the only thing that decides where the money and the house go next. The survivor is free to change that will at any time, for any reason, and does not have to tell anyone.
Usually the survivor keeps to the plan. The risks are in the cases where life changes:
- Remarriage. Under the Wills Act 1837, marrying or entering a civil partnership cancels an existing will, unless the will was made expecting that particular marriage. If the survivor remarries and makes no new will, the intestacy rules apply. A new husband or wife then takes the personal belongings, the first £322,000 and half of the rest. The survivor’s children share only the other half of what is left, and stepchildren get nothing at all.
- A new will. The survivor can simply write the children out, or leave everything to a new partner. This is sometimes called “sideways disinheritance”. It is a particular worry where one of you has children from an earlier relationship, because stepchildren have no automatic right to inherit from a step-parent.
- Care. Everything the survivor inherited counts as theirs if they later need care. See below.
The house can pass to the survivor even without a will. If you own it as joint tenants, which is how most couples buy, the whole house goes to the survivor automatically on the first death, whatever either will says. So a will can only deal with your half of the house if you own it as tenants in common.
Mirror wills and care fees
A council means test in England looks at what the person needing care owns. If the survivor inherited everything under a mirror will, all of it is theirs. While they live in the house, the house is ignored. If they move into a care home permanently and nobody else qualifying lives there, the house counts after 12 weeks, alongside their savings. Above £23,250 of capital, they pay the full fee themselves. The care fees guide explains the limits and the deferred payment scheme.
The usual alternative is a will trust for the half of the house belonging to whoever dies first. Solicitors call it a life-interest trust, a property protection trust or a protective property trust. It works like this:
- You change ownership from joint tenants to tenants in common, so you each own a half. HM Land Registry charges no fee for this, and one owner can do it without the other’s agreement, although couples normally do it together.
- Each will leaves its half of the house to a trust. The survivor can live in the house for life, and that half then passes to the children.
- Everything else can still go to the survivor in the usual way.
If the survivor later needs care, the half held in the trust belongs to the trust, not to them. They have a right to live in it for life (a life interest), and the charging regulations disregard the value of a life interest, so that half is not normally counted as their capital. Any income the trust pays them, such as rent if the house is let, does count as their income. This depends on the trust being set up by the will of the first to die, not by the survivor later. Their own half is valued at what a buyer would pay for a share of a house they could not easily sell, which may be less than half the value of the house, and in some cases nil. The guide to putting the house in a trust covers this in more detail.
A worked example
Pat and Sam own a house worth £400,000 as tenants in common and have £40,000 savings each. Sam dies. Later Pat moves permanently into a care home and nobody else lives in the house.
| Mirror wills, everything to Pat | Sam’s half to a will trust, the rest to Pat | |
|---|---|---|
| Pat owns | The whole house and £80,000 | Half the house and £80,000 |
| Counted for care after 12 weeks | £400,000 house and £80,000 | Pat’s half, at what a buyer would pay for it, and £80,000 |
| Who pays the fees | Pat, in full, until capital falls to £23,250 | Pat, in full, until capital falls to £23,250 |
| What goes to the children | Whatever Pat has left, if Pat’s will still leaves it to them | Sam’s half of the house, held in trust for them, plus whatever Pat has left |
In both cases Pat pays for care. The trust does not make the fees disappear. What it changes is that Sam’s half of the house is not used up on Pat’s care, and it reaches the children even if Pat remarries or changes their will. Rounded figures; a real assessment depends on income, debts and how the council values Pat’s half.
Mutual wills: rare, and binding
Mutual wills look like mirror wills, but the couple also make a legally binding agreement that the survivor will not change their will after the first death. The courts will only enforce that agreement if there is clear evidence of it, so it is best written into the wills themselves. The survivor can still make a new will, but the court can hold the property for the people the agreement named. They are rarely used. They can tie the survivor’s hands for decades, even if circumstances change completely, and they often lead to disputes. Most solicitors suggest a will trust instead, because it protects a share for the children without locking the survivor’s own money in place.
Inheritance tax
Anything left to a husband, wife or civil partner is free of inheritance tax, and the unused tax-free bands pass to the survivor for the second death. So mirror wills between a married couple usually mean no tax on the first death. A will trust can change how the bands are used, so the wording matters. The inheritance tax calculator and the guide to the 2027 pension changes show the bands. Unmarried couples get no spouse exemption at all, so a will matters even more for them.
What mirror wills cost
Published prices for a single will run from about £99 to £150 online and from £150 at a solicitor; in a 2025 Which? survey, people paid a lawyer £328 on average. Many firms charge less for a pair of mirror wills than for two single wills, so ask for a fixed price for both. Wills with a trust cost more than a simple pair. Free Wills Month runs in March and October: participating solicitors write a simple will or a pair of mirror wills free for people aged 55 and over, and for a couple only one of you needs to be 55. Appointments are limited.
House & Heirs sells The House Plan for £89, which includes a will. A mirror will for a husband, wife or partner can be added for £39. It covers simple mirror wills, not trusts.
When to see a solicitor
- Either of you has children from an earlier relationship.
- You want a share of the house held in a will trust, or you are thinking about mutual wills.
- You own the house as joint tenants and want to change that.
- Either of you may remarry, or one of you already needs care.
- There is a business, farm, property abroad, or an estate near the inheritance tax limits.
While you are planning, set up both lasting powers of attorney as well: a will only works after death. Check which power of attorney you are missing, or run the free check for your house.