Ricky Gervais is set to get married after 44 years – to avoid paying inheritance tax.
The Alley Cats creator has long maintained there was no need to tie the knot with author Jane Fallon as their relationship was already stronger than most marriages.
When asked if tax was the reason for his change of heart, he agreed: 'It is… that will be the reason I marry. We haven’t done it yet. But if it wasn’t for [tax]… why?
‘It’s horrible isn’t it? "I’ve got to get around to marrying, before I die’
He and his wife are both 65 and if they are not married inheritance tax will be levied at 40 per cent when one of them dies – but married couples and civil partners have a spouse exemption bringing that to zero.
That saving would be substantial for Gervais, who is worth an estimated £141million, and Fallon, who is worth about £1.3million.
Ken Dodd famously saved millions in inheritance tax by marrying his partner of 40 years, Anne Jones, just two days before he died in March 2018 at the age of 90.
Speaking to Saga magazine, Gervais added that he otherwise didn’t see the point, saying of his relationship: ‘How more married can you be? We share all our money, we’ve been living together for 40 years. Some marriages don’t last a year.’
Gervais’s wealth includes a £14.75million nine-bedroom mansion in Hampstead, north London, two flats in New York and a riverside home in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
The pair met while studying at University College London in 1982 and moved in together two years later.
