What are the intestacy rules and how might they impact you?
The intestacy rules determine how a person’s assets are distributed if they die without a valid will. The rules referred to below only apply to deaths on or after 26 June 2023. If you are looking for information regarding an earlier death, please get in contact with us.
The Current Intestacy Rules
If you are married or in a civil partnership and you don’t have any children, your spouse or civil partner will receive your entire estate. If you do have children, your spouse or civil partner will receive all of your personal possessions, the first £322,000 (together with any interest on that amount from the date of death), and one half of any remaining assets. Your children will then receive the other half. The term ‘children’ includes illegitimate and adopted children but not step-children.
If you are not married or in a civil partnership, the rules follow a descending hierarchy.
- Children – each of your children will receive an equal share.
- Parents – if you have no children but still have living parents, your assets will be split equally between them.
- Siblings – If you parents are deceased then your full siblings will each receive an equal share of everything. Half siblings will only receive equal shares if there are no full siblings.
- Grandparents – if you have no living siblings at the time of your death, your estate will be split between your grandparents.
- Aunts and Uncles – if there are no living grandparents, your aunts and uncles will inherit your estate. As with siblings, if there are only half aunts and uncles, they will still receive an equal share.
- The Crown – in the event there are no living relatives to inherit your estate, it will pass to the Crown where it will be administered by the Treasury Solicitor.
It’s important to note that if any of these relatives die before you but have living descendants, those descendants would inherit their share of the assets.
The intestacy rules and Inheritance Act claims
While the intestacy rules are statutory, they can be challenged under the Inheritance Act.
The Inheritance Act allows various classes of people such as spouses, partners, children, and dependants, to make a legal claim for a greater share of a deceased person’s estate than they would otherwise receive under the intestacy rules.
The importance of seeking specialist legal advice
Before distributing an estate in accordance with the intestacy rules it is important to seek professional legal guidance.
