Around 33 million adults in the UK have no will. If you are one of them and you die while living in England or Wales, you die "intestate" — and a fixed set of rules called the intestacy rules decides who inherits everything you own. The rules do not know your family. They do not know who you love, who you have fallen out with, or who actually needs the money. They just follow a list.
If you are married or in a civil partnership
If you leave a spouse or civil partner and no children, your spouse inherits your entire estate. Simple enough — though note that "spouse" means legally married or in a civil partnership on the day you die. Separated but not divorced? They still inherit.
If you leave a spouse or civil partner and children, the estate is split. Your spouse receives your personal possessions, the first £322,000 of the estate (the "statutory legacy", set at this figure in July 2023), and half of whatever remains above that. Your children share the other half of the remainder equally, held for them until they turn 18.
For many families that split causes real problems. If the family home is worth more than £322,000 and is in your sole name, your spouse may not inherit all of it — part can pass to the children, sometimes forcing a sale or an awkward co-ownership between a surviving parent and their own children.
If you are not married: cohabiting partners get nothing
This is the rule that catches the most people out. There is no such thing as a "common law spouse" in England and Wales. If you live with a partner but are not married or in a civil partnership, the intestacy rules give them nothing — no matter how long you have been together, and even if you have children together. Their only route is an expensive, uncertain claim through the courts under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
The order of inheritance
With no spouse, the rules work down a strict family list. Each category only inherits if the one above it is empty:
- Children (or their children, if a child has died before you)
- Parents
- Brothers and sisters (then half-brothers and half-sisters)
- Grandparents
- Aunts and uncles (then half-aunts and half-uncles)
- If none of the above exist, everything passes to the Crown as "bona vacantia"
Notice who is missing. Stepchildren do not inherit under intestacy unless you legally adopted them. Friends, godchildren and charities get nothing. And unmarried partners, as above, are invisible to the rules entirely.
What else a will would have decided
Intestacy does not just choose your beneficiaries. With no will, there is no named executor — the law decides who can administer your estate, which can cause delay and family friction. There are no named guardians for children under 18; if no other parent survives, the family court decides who raises them. And there is no record of your funeral wishes, specific gifts, or anything else that mattered to you.
One small comfort: property owned as "joint tenants" (the common way couples own a home) passes automatically to the surviving owner outside the intestacy rules, as do many pensions and life policies with a nominated beneficiary. But relying on that patchwork is not a plan.
The fix is straightforward
All of the above is avoidable with a valid will. You choose who inherits, who administers your estate, and who looks after your children — and your family is spared the delay and uncertainty of the rules deciding for them. With Willful, the guided questions take about 15 minutes, an SRA-regulated solicitor reviews every will before it reaches you, and your will is registered with the National Will Register so it can always be found.