What if there is no will?
When somebody dies without leaving a will then the selection both or the person entitled to administer the estate and the person or persons entitled to inherit the estate is governed by the intestacy rules.
These statutory rules basically state that the closest surviving blood relations to the deceased are entitled both to administer and inherit the estate.
These rules can, however, be rather complex in some circumstances, for example:-
- Unmarried couples do not inherit anything under the intestacy rules unless they have a valid civil partnership in place.
- Jointly owned property may pass to the surviving joint owner of the property rather than the next of kin depending on the technicalities of the joint ownership.
- A spouse does not necessarily inherit the whole estate unconditionally and only inherits the first £200.000. Unconditionally when there are no children and £125.000 when there are children.
If you would like accurate, no nonsense, friendly advice from an expert on how the intestacy rules apply to your case please phone 020 8859 9280 or Email your enquiry to CTW Probate Consultants.
Apart from the application of the intestacy rules the administration is essentially the same as in a probate case, where a will exists our own costs are identical whether or not a will exists.
