What happens if you have not made a Will?

25 - 7 - 2007 

In the absence of a Will, a set of provisions (known as the Intestacy Rules), determines who is entitled to receive the assets in your estate.

If a spouse/civil partner and children survive you, then the spouse/civil partner will receive the first £250,000 and personal possessions, or everything if the estate is valued at less than this sum. This would not include your share in property held as joint tenants, which passes automatically to the surviving owner.

Anything in excess of £250,000 would then be split, with one half being divided between your children, and the other half being placed in trust for the lifetime of your spouse/civil partner. This provides them with the income from the capital, but preserves the capital for the children upon the death of the spouse/civil partner.

This is the most common situation but the Intestacy Rules provide for many other different schemes of distribution of assets, depending on which relatives survive you.

If you have a spouse/civil partner, no children but other relatives (including parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, uncles and aunts) then your spouse/civil partner will receive everything up to £200,000. Again, this would not include your half share of any property held as joint tenants which passes automatically to the surviving owner.

Anything in excess of £450,000 would then be split, with one half passing to the other relatives in this order of priority: parents; brother/sisters; half brothers/sisters; grandparents; uncles/aunts; spouses/civil partners of uncles/aunts. If any of these have died before you, but have children then they will take their parent’s share. The other half is placed in trust for your spouse/civil partner, as above.

If you have no spouse/civil partner but you do have children, then the estate will be shared equally between the children, or if they have died before you then their children would take their share.

If there is no surviving spouse/civil partner and no children then the estate will pass to relatives in the order of priority outlined above.

If there is no surviving spouse/civil partner, no children and no other relatives can be traced, then the entire estate will pass to the Crown.

For more information contact:

Bromley telephone 020 8290 0440: MarkStubberfield. email: mark.stubberfield@thackraywilliams.com

Beckenham telephone 020 8663 0503: Jill MacMahon. Email: jill.macmahon@thackraywilliams.com

West Wickham tele. 020 8777 6698:Andrea Robinson: email: andrea.robinson@thackraywilliams.com