If you die without having a valid will in place, you are deemed to have died intestate. This means that your assets will be divided up according to statute rather than to your wishes.
Under the rules of intestacy
- Partners to whom you are not married (or in a civil partnership with) get absolutely nothing even if they were co-habiting with you at the time of your death.
- If you are married (or in a Civil Partnership), the amount going to your spouse/civil partner is restricted with the possibility that even estranged relatives could benefit.
- Dependent on a number of circumstances part of your estate could go to your parents. Whilst you may wish to provide for elderly parents, the consequence could be an additional charge to Inheritance Tax on the subsequent death of your parents.
- If you die and have no relatives then your WHOLE estate would go to the Crown as ‘bona vacantia’ rather than dear friends or charitable causes whom you may want to benefit.
- It is also possible to unwittingly die intestate. This will happen if you have made a will but it is declared invalid. This often happens where people have purchased a ‘Do It Yourself’ Will at a stationery shop rather than taken professional advice.
- Unless specifically stated otherwise, entering a marriage or civil partnership will automatically revoke your Will. Divorce (or dissolution of a civil partnership) doesn’t revoke a Will but treats the former partner as though they had died on the date of the dissolution.