Intestate

Dying intestate under English law means that you have not made a valid will that can be used after your death. If this occurs it means obtaining Letters of Administration and appointing your administrators can take months and in some cases years. This can mean that your surviving spouse may have a period without access to the money that is part of your estate and this can last for some time.

In the event of intestacy there are rules that decide who gets what after your death. If the person who has died has a surviving husband or wife and there are no relatives of a certain type they the spouse will be entitled to everything. If there are children, parents or siblings (brothers and sisters) the following occurs in order of preference. **

Shared between children, grandchildren or other lineal decedents else:
Shared between parents else:
Shared between siblings:

If there is no surviving husband or wife the following occurs in order of preference:

To issue on the statutory trust if there are any else:
To the parents split equally else:
To the siblings (brothers and sisters) else:
To the grand parents split equally:
To the aunts and uncles split equally:
The Crown, Duchy of Lancaster or the Duke of Cornwall depending on where they lived.

Ensuring you have a valid will that is legally correct will avoid all of the possibilities that your property is not given to whom you choose. The cost to produce a will that will avoid intestacy may be less than the cost of trying to deal with a death where no will has been put in place compared with winding up and estate where there is a valid will. These extra costs will have to be paid for normally out of the estate.

If you would like to find out more about instructing D. M. McLean Solicitor to produce a will then please fill out our contact form, send us an email or contact us by phone.

Further Reading
Family Records Intestate Information
Debts and Inheritance

Intestate Guide

** Please note that due to the complex nature of the law your circumstances may alter many things. This is intended as rough approximation for your information only.