What happens if I do not make a Will?

If you do not have a Will then your estate will be dealt with under the intestacy rules. 

Inheritance and Trustees Powers Act 2014:

If there are surviving children, grandchildren or great grandchildren of the person who died and the estate is valued at more than £322,000, the partner (married or civil partners NOT unmarried) will inherit:

•all the personal property and belongings of the person who has died, and

•the first £322,000 of the estate, and

•half of the remaining estate

If there are no surviving children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren, the partner (married or civil) will inherit:

•all the personal property and belongings of the person who has died and

•the whole of the estate with interest from the date of death

Who cannot inherit

The following people have no right to inherit where someone dies without leaving a will:

•unmarried partners (sometimes wrongly called 'common-law' partners)

•lesbian or gay partners not in a civil partnership

•relations by marriage

•close friends

•carers

Although any property jointly owned will pass by right of survivorship