What Happens If You Die Without a Will

Dying without a will in place means your estate is distributed under the rules of intestacy rather than by your own wishes. These rules follow a fixed order of priority that often surprises people, particularly unmarried couples and stepchildren who receive nothing under intestacy law.

How the intestacy rules work

Under intestacy, a spouse or civil partner comes first. If there are no children, they inherit the whole estate, and parents, brothers and sisters receive nothing. If there is no spouse or civil partner, the estate passes to children, then parents, siblings and more distant relatives in a set order. Where there is a spouse and children, the spouse receives the personal possessions, a statutory legacy and a share of anything left, with the remainder split among the children. Couples who live together but are not married have no automatic right to inherit at all under these rules, regardless of how long they have been together.

Who is left out under intestacy

The people most often caught out by intestacy are unmarried partners, stepchildren who have not been legally adopted and close friends a person may have wanted to provide for. None of these groups inherit automatically, so anyone in this situation who wants a partner or stepchild protected needs a will rather than relying on the default rules. Our wills solicitors can help you put the right wording in place.

What happens to the estate administration

When someone dies without a will, an administrator rather than an executor deals with the estate, and this role usually falls to the next of kin in the same order used for inheritance. The administrator applies for Letters of Administration instead of a Grant of Probate, and the process can take longer where family members disagree about who should act or where relatives are difficult to trace. Our probate team regularly helps families apply for Letters of Administration.

How to avoid intestacy

The only way to avoid the intestacy rules applying is to put a valid will in place, and to review that will as your circumstances change over time. If you already have a will but are unsure it reflects your current wishes, our wills team can review the document with you and confirm whether it still works as intended.