Rules
of Intestacy
If you die
without having made a Will, you are said to have died
"intestate". If your estate is worth over £25,000,
it will be distributed according to the rules of intestacy
for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or according to
the Scottish rights of succession. These are outlined
below.
England,
Wales and Northern Ireland |
Scotland |
Please note:
Married but separated people are
treated as if they are still married.
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Definitions:
In Scotland, the deceased's estate is divided into:
-
"Heritable
Estate" -
buildings, land
etc;
-
"Moveable
Estate" - anything
other than Heritable Estate - including money,
shares, share in a business partnership - and;
-
"Free
Estate"
and distributed in
the following order:
-
"Prior
rights" - are the spouse's
rights
-
"Legal
rights" - to inherit shares of the "moveable" estate
(money, shares, cars etc) after debts paid
-
"Free
estate" - the remaining estate after
distribution of above
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Single/Divorced/Widowed people
Everything goes to:
- Any children* - if none...
- to parents - if none...
- to any brothers/sisters* - if none...
- to grandparents - if none...
- to uncles and aunts* - if none...
- to the Government
- * = or to their children if deceased
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Single/Divorced/Widowed people
Estate distributed as follows:
-
Prior rights - not applicable
-
Legal rights - one
half to children (or their issue) if any and one
half to Free estate
-
Free estate - distributed...
-
to the children equally (or
their issue)
- if none...
-
half
to parents jointly, and half to brothers/sisters
equally (if no parents, all to brothers/sisters
equally, and if no brothers/sisters all to
parents jointly) - if none...
-
all to grandparents - if
none...
-
all
to grandparents' brother/sisters - if none...
-
all
to remoter relatives - if none...
-
to
the Government
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Unmarried couples
Your partner receives NOTHING.
Your estate is distributed as for single
people.
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Unmarried couples
Your partner receives NOTHING.
Your estate is distributed as for single
people.
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Married with no children
The surviving spouse
receives:
- The
first £200,000 of the estate plus all the goods
and chattels, and half of the rest of the
estate.
- The
remainder passes to parents and so on...... as
per single people - except that if there are no
surviving blood relatives, the surviving spouse
inherits the remainder.
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Married with no children
Estate distributed as follows:
-
Prior rights - surviving spouse
gets £130,000 plus plenishings up to £22,000
plus a legacy up to £58,000.
-
Legal rights - one half to
spouse and one half to Free estate.
-
Free estate - distributed...
-
Half to parents jointly, and
half to brothers/sisters equally (if no parents,
all to brothers/sisters equally, and if no
brothers/sisters all to parents jointly) - if
none...
-
all to spouse.
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Married with children
The surviving spouse
receives:
- The
first £125,000 of the estate plus all the goods
and chattels, and interest only from half
of the rest of the estate until death (when the
capital will go to the surviving children).
- The
other half goes equally to the children
immediately, but if they have not attained the
age of 18 years then in Trust until that age is
attained.
[In Northern
Ireland, the surviving spouse receives:
- if married with
one child – the first £125,000 of the
residuary estate plus chattels.
- if married with
more than one child – one third of the
residuary estate and the remainder to the
surviving children equally.
]
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Married with children
Estate
distributed as follows:
-
Prior rights - surviving spouse
gets £130,000 plus plenishings up to £22,000
plus a legacy up to £35,000.
-
Legal rights - one third to
spouse, one third to the children (or their
issue), one third to Free estate.
-
Free estate - distributed...
-
all to the children equally (or
their issue). Where
the children are under 16 years old a guardian
needs to be appointed in case they are orphaned
- otherwise your child may become involved in
custodial battles and placed into care.
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PLEASE NOTE
In
Scotland, if the deceased has made a Will then:
- Prior
rights (as above) do not apply.
- Legal
rights (as above) do apply (even if the Will is to the
contrary).
- However,
a spouse or child exercising their "legal
rights" cannot have a gift from the Will plus
their "legal rights". They must choose, one
or the other.
The
Will is only concerned with the estate after "legal
rights" have been settled unless those "legal
rights" have been relinquished, perhaps in favour of
a larger gift from the Will.
Unmarried Couples
- For heterosexual couples, on the death of a
co-habitee the Law Reform (Succession) Act 1995 now
allows that a claim may be made for provision under
the Inheritance (Provision for Families and
Dependents) Act 1975 rather than under Intestacy
Rules, as was the case previously. A new section was
added to the 1975 Act for a co-habitee to make a claim
providing they have lived together during the whole of
the previous two years in the same household as
husband and wife.
- For homosexual couples who register a civil
partnership (under the Civil Partnership Act
2005), this registration will revoke any existing Will, meaning
that unless a new Will is made in favour of your
partner then your partner will inherit nothing.
The dissolution of a registered partnership is also a
point at which a new Will should be considered.
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