In almost all cases, anything your spouse or civil partner left to you passes free of inheritance tax. The spouse exemption means there is usually no tax bill on what comes to you, however large the estate.
Jointly owned assets, such as a home held as joint tenants or a joint bank account, normally pass to you automatically by survivorship. Accounts in your spouse's sole name are different: banks each set their own threshold for releasing money without probate.
When your spouse's allowances go unused because everything passed to you, they do not disappear, they transfer. The transfer has to be claimed properly by your executors, and the paperwork from your spouse's estate makes that far easier if it is kept safe now.
The tax question that matters most is actually about the future: your own estate, especially once the April 2027 pension changes are taken into account.
Shows what your estate is likely to be able to claim from your spouse's unused nil rate band and residence nil rate band.
Shows where your own estate now stands, which matters again from April 2027 when pensions start counting.
When you are ready, and only then, a vetted specialist can help you update your own will to match your new situation.
Book a free call. We will talk through your position and whether there is anything worth changing. No hard sell, no obligation.