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Registered office: Squiggle Consult Ltd, Suite 2069, Letraset Building, Wotton Road, Ashford, Kent, TN23 6LN
Squiggle Consult Ltd. is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
If someone dies without a valid Will, they die intestate, and the law, not them, decides who inherits. The rules follow a strict order set out in the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (as amended), and they regularly produce results that surprise, and sometimes devastate, families. The order of priority takes no account of who you were closest to, who you intended to benefit, or what you said to anyone during your lifetime.
This factsheet explains the intestacy rules for England and Wales step by step, highlights who the rules leave out, and sets out the consequences of dying without a Will.
Yes, with no children: your spouse or civil partner receives everything. The entire estate passes to them.
Yes, with children: your spouse or civil partner receives:
Your children share the other half of anything that remains above £322,000, equally between them. If a child has already died but has left children of their own, those grandchildren step into that child's share. Children (and grandchildren if relevant) inherit at the age of 18.
No spouse or civil partner: proceed to step 2.
Imagine Alan and Bea, a married couple with two adult children. Alan dies without a Will, leaving an estate of £700,000. Bea receives all personal possessions, plus the £322,000 statutory legacy, plus half of the remainder (£378,000 ÷ 2 = £189,000). Bea receives £511,000 in total. The two children share the other £189,000 equally, £94,500 each. If Alan had left a simple Will, he could have chosen precisely how to divide his estate, included tax planning, and avoided any uncertainty about how the remainder splits.
This is a hypothetical example for illustration only.
Everything passes to the first group on this list that exists, shared equally among all members of that group:
Two important definitions: "children" for intestacy purposes includes adopted children and children whose parents were not married to each other. It does not include step-children whom you never formally adopted. Where a relative died before you but left children, those children usually step into their parent's share (this is called the right of representation).
This is where intestacy hurts most. The people the law ignores are often the people who mattered most.
Unmarried partners. No matter how long you have been together, five years, twenty years, an unmarried partner has no automatic entitlement under the intestacy rules. "Common-law marriage" does not exist in English law. It has never existed. An unmarried partner who expected to inherit from you receives nothing.
Step-children you never adopted. Step-children who were not legally adopted by you have no right to inherit under intestacy, even if you raised them as your own and they regarded you as a parent.
Friends and carers. No matter how important someone was in your life, friendship confers no inheritance right. A carer who devoted years to looking after you has no claim under the intestacy rules.
Charities you cared about. Any charitable legacy you might have intended, a donation to a hospice that cared for a family member, a local community cause, simply does not happen.
A partner or dependant left without provision may be forced to go to court. The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 allows certain people, including unmarried partners who were being maintained by the deceased, to make a claim against the estate for reasonable financial provision. But these claims are slow, expensive and deeply stressful, pursued at the worst possible time and with no guaranteed outcome.
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When someone dies with a Will, the Will appoints executors: the people responsible for dealing with the estate. Under intestacy, there is no Will and no nominated executor. The law sets out a fixed order of priority for who can apply to administer the estate:
The person who administers an intestate estate becomes the administrator and obtains a document called Letters of Administration from the Probate Registry. This is the intestacy equivalent of a Grant of Probate.
If there is any disagreement within the family about who should administer the estate, or if the priority order produces an uncomfortable result, for example, an estranged sibling becoming administrator, the dispute may need to be resolved by the court. This adds cost, delay and family conflict at an already painful time.
Children inherit outright at 18. Under the intestacy rules, children receive their share of the estate at the age of 18 with no conditions attached. A Will can include a trust that holds a child's inheritance until a later age (21, 25 or even later), or that gives trustees the discretion to apply money for the child's benefit during their childhood. Intestacy removes those protections entirely.
No guardianship provision. A Will is the only place you can formally record who you would like to be appointed guardian of your minor children. Intestacy makes no provision for this at all. Without a Will naming a guardian, the question of who raises your children may be decided by the courts, and not necessarily in the way you would have chosen.
No trust protections. A carefully drafted Will can include trusts to protect a surviving spouse's share (for example, a life interest trust that prevents assets from passing to a new partner if they remarry), or to protect a vulnerable beneficiary who might not manage a large inheritance well. None of these protections are available under intestacy.
No tax planning. The intestacy rules pay no regard to Inheritance Tax. A Will can be structured to use all available allowances, make charitable bequests, create tax-efficient trusts and generally reduce the IHT bill. An intestate estate does none of this. Read our Inheritance Tax Mitigation factsheet for an overview of what planning a Will can incorporate.
Administration is often slower and more contentious. Without a Will, the Probate Registry needs to establish who the administrator is and that no Will exists. Family members may need to make formal sworn statements. If the estate is at all complex, the process takes longer and costs more than it would have with a proper Will in place.
It is worth noting that some assets pass outside the intestacy rules altogether. Property held as joint tenants (the most common form of joint ownership between a couple) passes automatically to the surviving owner, regardless of intestacy or any Will. Similarly, pension death benefits pass according to the scheme's own nomination of benefits, not via the estate. And life insurance written in trust passes to the trust beneficiaries, not via the estate.
However, the intestacy rules do govern everything that does pass through the estate, savings in a sole name, investments, personal possessions, and property held as tenants in common (a different form of joint ownership where each person owns a distinct share). If you and your partner own property as tenants in common and one of you dies without a Will, the deceased's share passes under the intestacy rules, not automatically to the survivor.
It is worth checking how your property is held, especially if you are an unmarried couple.
Assuming a long relationship creates legal rights. It does not. Unmarried partners have no automatic inheritance rights however long they have been together. This is one of the most widespread and damaging misconceptions in family financial planning.
Assuming a Will made before marriage still stands. In England and Wales, marriage automatically revokes any existing Will unless the Will was made expressly in contemplation of that marriage. A couple who both had Wills from previous relationships and then marry are both effectively intestate.
Assuming your estate is too small to matter. The intestacy rules produce unwanted results at every level of wealth. A modest estate with sentimental assets going to the wrong people, children inheriting at 18 from a parent's accident, an unmarried partner left without a home, these outcomes do not depend on the estate being large.
Delaying the Will because the situation is complicated. A blended family, a disabled child, an estranged sibling with potential claims, a business interest, these are exactly the situations where a properly drafted Will matters most. Complexity is a reason to act sooner, not to put it off.
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This factsheet summarises the intestacy rules; the statutory legacy figure is current as of June 2026.
This factsheet is general information for England and Wales, not legal, tax or financial advice. Last reviewed: June 2026.
Registered number: 10816512.
Registered office: Squiggle Consult Ltd, Suite 2069, Letraset Building, Wotton Road, Ashford, Kent, TN23 6LN
Squiggle Consult Ltd. is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
