Who inherits if there’s no will

England and Wales

The rules are called the intestacy rules. Who inherits depends on who survives you:

• Husband, wife or civil partner and children: your partner gets your personal belongings, the first £322,000 of the rest, and half of anything over that. Your children share the other half equally.
• Husband, wife or civil partner, no children: your partner gets everything.
• Children, no husband, wife or civil partner: the children share everything equally.
• No husband, wife, civil partner or children: it passes to your parents, then brothers and sisters, then half-brothers and half-sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and then half-aunts and half-uncles, in that order. The first group with anyone in it takes the lot.
• No relatives in those groups: everything goes to the Crown.

A child who has died before you is replaced by their own children, who share their parent's part. The same goes for a brother, sister, aunt or uncle who has died: their children step into their place. Children and grandchildren under 18 get their share at 18, or earlier if they marry or form a civil partnership.

Your husband, wife or civil partner has to outlive you by 28 days to inherit. A husband, wife or civil partner you're separated from but not divorced from still counts, unless a court has granted a judicial separation.

Worked example

Mark dies without a will. He's married with two children. His estate:

His wife gets the £15,000 of belongings and the first £322,000. That leaves £43,000, which is split in two: £21,500 to her and £21,500 shared by the children. His wife inherits £358,500 and each child £10,750.

If the home had been in joint names as joint tenants, it would have gone straight to his wife outside the estate, and the children would have had nothing, because the estate would then be under £322,000.

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Scotland

Scotland works in three steps, and splits the estate into "heritable" property (land and buildings) and "moveable" property (everything else: money, shares, cars, belongings).

1. Prior rights for a husband, wife or civil partner: the home, up to £473,000; its furniture and contents, up to £29,000; and £50,000 in cash if there are children, or £89,000 if not.
2. Legal rights from the moveable property that's left: a husband, wife or civil partner gets a third (a half if there are no children), and the children share a third (a half if there's no husband, wife or civil partner).
3. The rest goes to the children first. If there are none, it goes to the husband, wife or civil partner, for deaths from 30 April 2024. Before then, parents and brothers and sisters came first.

On Mark's figures in Scotland, his wife would get the home (£250,000), the belongings (£15,000) and £50,000 in cash. A third of the remaining £65,000 of moveable property, £21,667, is her legal right, and a third is the children's. The last third goes to the children too. His wife inherits £336,667 and each child £21,667.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland follows a similar pattern to England and Wales, with different sums:

• With children, a husband, wife or civil partner gets the personal belongings and the first £250,000, then half of the rest if there's one child, or a third if there are more.
• With no children but a parent, brother or sister (or a brother's or sister's child) alive, they get the personal belongings, the first £450,000 and half of the rest. The other half goes to the parents, or if none, to the brothers and sisters, with a late brother's or sister's children taking their share.
• With none of those, a husband, wife or civil partner gets everything.

Half brothers and sisters inherit equally with full ones. Beyond brothers and sisters and their children, the estate goes to the nearest relatives by degree of kinship, rather than England's fixed list. On Mark's figures, his wife would get £15,000, £250,000 and a third of the remaining £115,000. His wife inherits £303,333 and each child £38,333.

What a will changes

Unmarried partners. The intestacy rules don't recognise them at all. A partner can make a claim against the estate in court, but it's slow, expensive and uncertain, and in Scotland it has to be made within 6 months of the death. A will is the only way to be sure they inherit.

Stepchildren. Only your own children, including adopted children, inherit. Stepchildren you haven't adopted don't.

Joint property. A home or bank account held as joint tenants passes to the other owner automatically, whatever the rules say. A home held as tenants in common doesn't: your share goes through your estate. In Scotland it depends on whether the title deeds have a survivorship destination.

Inheritance Tax. What goes to a husband, wife or civil partner is free of Inheritance Tax, but the children's shares aren't. A will can make better use of both of your allowances.