- A properly drafted spousal trust sets out, in writing, who receives income, who ultimately receives the capital, and under what circumstances the trust ends.
- A new spouse gains no automatic entitlement to your spousal trust simply by marrying your surviving spouse.
- - Income entitlement — your surviving spouse generally keeps receiving the trust's income for as long as the trust document says they're entitled to it, regardless of their marital status.
You've set up a spousal trust so your spouse is provided for after you're gone, with the remaining capital eventually passing to your children. Then a natural question follows: what if your spouse remarries? Does a new relationship change how the trust works, or open the door to a new spouse eventually benefiting from it?
Generally, the answer is no — a spousal trust is controlled by the document that created it, not by whatever happens in your surviving spouse's life afterward. But "generally" is doing real work in that sentence, and there are edges worth understanding.
The Trust Deed Controls, Not Later Life Events
A properly drafted spousal trust sets out, in writing, who receives income, who ultimately receives the capital, and under what circumstances the trust ends. Unless the document itself specifically ties an outcome to your spouse's marital status after your death, your spouse remarrying, entering a new common-law relationship, or even having more children with someone else generally doesn't change any of those terms. The trust simply keeps operating as written.
What a New Spouse Does Not Automatically Get
A new spouse gains no automatic entitlement to your spousal trust simply by marrying your surviving spouse. They aren't named as a beneficiary unless your original trust document named them (which, for a trust set up before you knew that person existed, would be essentially impossible), and they have no independent right to the trust's income or capital. Your surviving spouse's remarriage doesn't transform the trust into shared property with their new partner.
What Actually Continues Unchanged
- Income entitlement — your surviving spouse generally keeps receiving the trust's income for as long as the trust document says they're entitled to it, regardless of their marital status.
- Ultimate beneficiaries — whoever you named to receive the trust's capital after your spouse's interest ends (commonly your children) remains entitled to it on the same terms.
- Trustee obligations — the trustee's duties to manage the trust properly and treat the spouse's and the ultimate beneficiaries' interests fairly continue exactly as before.
Where It Gets More Complicated
Whether a new spouse's own family law rights could ever indirectly touch trust property — for example, through claims connected to their own relationship with your surviving spouse — is a fact-specific question that depends on exactly how assets are held, used, and commingled, and it goes beyond what general information can safely answer. If this is a live concern for your family, it's worth raising directly with a lawyer rather than assuming either that the trust is completely insulated or that it isn't.
Can You Plan for This Possibility in Advance?
Yes. Some testators deliberately build a remarriage-related term into the spousal trust itself — for example, ending the spouse's income entitlement, or accelerating a distribution to children, if the spouse remarries or begins living with a new partner. This isn't required, and many spousal trusts say nothing about remarriage at all, relying instead on the basic structure (income to spouse, capital preserved for children) to do the protective work. Whether to add a specific remarriage clause is a personal choice with trade-offs — it can feel like a strong protective measure, but some testators and their spouses find it uncomfortable or even punitive. This is worth discussing openly with your lawyer, and with your spouse if you're comfortable doing so, before deciding either way.
Frequently asked questions
Does the trust automatically end if my spouse remarries?
No, not unless the trust document specifically says it does. Absent a specific term addressing remarriage, the trust continues on its original terms regardless of your spouse's marital status.
Can my spouse's new partner ever inherit from the trust?
Not directly, and not automatically. They would only ever receive trust property if the trust document itself named them as a beneficiary, which is not how these trusts are typically structured for someone who wasn't part of the family when the trust was created.
Should I add a remarriage clause to protect my children?
Some testators do, particularly in blended families where protecting children from an earlier relationship is the central goal. It's a decision to make deliberately with your lawyer, weighing the added protection against how it may be received by your spouse.
What if I already have a spousal trust and didn't address remarriage — can I still fix that?
If you have the capacity to do so, you can generally update your will and the trust terms it creates for future estates, though changes to an already-established trust after your death are far more limited. Addressing it while you're still able to update your plan is the more reliable route.
This is a wills & estates question
Start a file online — flat, published fees, reviewed by a licensed Ontario lawyer before a dollar is owed.