Westfield WILLS
Rules of Intestacy What Happens Without a Will?
If a person passes away without having written a will, they are considered to have died “intestate.” In such cases, their assets, which include finances, belongings, and real estate, are divided according to the laws of intestacy, irrespective of their actual wishes. Creating a will guarantees that your financial matters will be managed as you desire after your death, ensuring that your estate goes to the people your care about.
Managing an Estate
If an adult dies without a legal will and owns things like a house, money, or other belongings, then the law decides who receives those assets and who’s in charge of sorting it all out. This is called dying “intestate.”
The first big task is picking the right person to manage giving out the deceased person’s money and property. This is an important responsibility. If the person doing this makes a mistake, even if it’s an honest one, they could be held accountable for any losses.
We’ve helped thousands of people in Yorkshire navigate this complicated process after someone dies. We’re experts in these rules, so we can help guide you through it.
Intestacy Questionaire
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When an individual passes away without a legally valid will, specific inheritance laws come into play, commonly known as intestacy rules, applicable in England and Wales. These rules do not account for contemporary family dynamics. For instance, they do not provide for partners who are neither married nor in a registered relationship, leaving them without an automatic inheritance of any assets solely owned by the deceased. However, such partners may still be able to make a legitimate inheritance claim or the family may choose to legally modify the distribution to accommodate them.
The intestacy rules recognize only biological and legally adopted children for inheritance purposes, excluding stepchildren, although stepchildren might still have valid grounds for a claim.
How the estate is divided under intestacy rules varies. For those who were married or in a civil partnership and had no children, their entire estate will go to their spouse or civil partner. If children are involved, the spouse or civil partner receives the first £322,000 of the estate and all personal belongings. Any amount exceeding £322,000 is then split, with 50% going to the spouse or civil partner and the remaining 50% distributed among the children.
For individuals who were not married or in a civil partnership but lived with a long-term partner, the intestacy rules offer no protection; these partners are not entitled to inherit. In such cases, the entire estate will go to the children if they exist. Otherwise, it may be passed to parents, siblings, or other relatives.
Assets held jointly may not be subject to intestacy rules and may instead go directly to the surviving co-owner. This applies to properties held as “joint tenants” or joint bank accounts, but rules differ for properties owned as “tenants in common.”
To ensure your assets are distributed according to your wishes, creating a will is the most foolproof approach.