If you die without a valid will in the UK, you die “intestate”. The law then decides who inherits, using a fixed formula based on your family tree. Your wishes, your friendships and your unmarried relationships do not count. The formula is different in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, so where you live matters.
This guide explains the rules nation by nation, who inherits and in what order, who can end up with nothing, and what your family faces when they have to sort things out. It ends with the simplest fix, which is to write a will.
TL;DR
- With no valid will, your estate is shared out under intestacy rules set by law. They differ in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
- Married couples and civil partners are protected, but not always fully. Children, parents and siblings can take a share, depending on your nation and the size of the estate.
- Unmarried partners, stepchildren, friends and charities have no automatic right to inherit in England and Wales.
- If no eligible relative can be found, the estate passes to the Crown.
- You can write a legally valid will with us for free, and then keep your estate details in one place for the people who will need them.
What “dying intestate” means
You die intestate when you leave no valid will. That covers three situations: you never made one, you made one that is not legally valid, or your will does not deal with everything you owned. In the last case, the part it misses is shared out under the same rules.
The whole estate then passes under the intestacy rules. In England and Wales these were amended by the Inheritance and Trustees’ Powers Act 2014 for deaths on or after 1 October 2014, which changed what a surviving spouse or civil partner receives. The Law Commission review behind that Act looked at when a spouse must share with other relatives, the priority order of relatives, and how property is divided between generations.
The idea behind these rules is a sensible default. The Scottish Government describes the aim of intestacy schemes as a default distribution that reflects what individuals and families expect. That works for many traditional families. It works badly for blended families, unmarried couples and anyone with a specific wish.
Who inherits in England and Wales
In England and Wales, relatives are considered in a strict order. The GOV.UK list of who can claim runs like this:
- Spouse or civil partner
- Children or their descendants
- Parents
- Brothers and sisters, or their descendants
- Half-brothers and half-sisters, or their descendants
- Grandparents
- Aunts and uncles, or their descendants
- Half-aunts and half-uncles, or their descendants
Generally, a closer group takes everything and the groups below it get nothing. If you leave children, for example, your parents and siblings do not inherit.
There is one useful detail. If a relative who was entitled survived you but has since died, their personal representative can still make a claim to the estate on their behalf.
If you leave a spouse or civil partner
What your spouse or civil partner gets depends on whether you also leave children or other close relatives. For deaths on or after 1 October 2014, where there is a surviving spouse or civil partner and children, the spouse or civil partner inherits:
- your personal chattels (personal items such as jewellery, furniture and cars, but not business assets or money)
- a statutory legacy, which is a fixed sum set by government
- an absolute interest in half of what is left (the residue)
The children share the other half of the residue. So a spouse can find themselves sharing a home’s value with grown-up children, which is rarely what anyone intended. The statutory legacy amount is reviewed from time to time, so check the current figure on GOV.UK before relying on it.
If you have no children or other close relatives under the rules, your spouse or civil partner is generally the one to benefit most. The exact thresholds are in the official guidance, and a solicitor can confirm how they apply to your family.
Worked example
Imagine a married couple with two grown-up children. One partner dies with no will. The surviving partner takes the personal chattels and the statutory legacy first. Whatever is left is split in half: one half to the survivor outright, the other half to the two children equally.
If the estate is mostly a house, the survivor may now share ownership of it with the children, or be pushed towards selling. A short will leaving everything to the survivor would have avoided this.
Who inherits in Scotland
Scotland has its own system and its own terms. Two things stand out.
First, since 1 May 2024, a surviving spouse or civil partner is entitled to the whole estate if there are no surviving children or grandchildren.
Second, Scots law gives spouses, civil partners and children fixed “legal rights” to a share of the moveable estate, meaning money, investments and personal property. According to a Scottish Parliament research briefing, these rights apply even if there is a will, and the family home and land are excluded from that protection.
The same briefing says Scotland’s current inheritance law does not match the variety of family structures today, including blended families. If you live in Scotland and your family is not a simple one, a will is even more worth having.
If no relatives survive, the intestate estate passes to the Crown, known as ultimus haeres.
Who inherits in Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, the Administration of Estates Act (Northern Ireland) 1955 sets the rules. Nidirect explains that:
- if the estate is £250,000 or less, the spouse or civil partner inherits everything
- the spouse or civil partner also inherits everything if there are no children or grandchildren, parents or siblings
- if the estate is worth more than £250,000 and children survive, the spouse or civil partner receives the personal chattels, the first £250,000, and a defined share of the remainder
If no entitled relatives survive, the estate passes to the Crown through the Crown Solicitor’s Office.
The four nations side by side
| England and Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spouse or civil partner, no children | Inherits under the rules | Whole estate if no children or grandchildren (from 1 May 2024) | Everything if no children or grandchildren, parents or siblings |
| Spouse or civil partner, with children | Chattels, a fixed statutory legacy and half the residue | Children and spouse have legal rights to moveable estate | Chattels, first £250,000 and a share of the residue if the estate is over £250,000 |
| No relatives | Crown (bona vacantia) | Crown (ultimus haeres) | Crown, via the Crown Solicitor’s Office |
If you want to compare how different parts of the UK treat an estate without a will, the rules are not the only thing that varies. Families also differ in how they talk about money passed down. Some find it helps to read views on tithing an inheritance before sitting down to discuss what to do with a legacy.
The people who inherit nothing
This is the part that surprises families most. The order of relatives has no place for several people who may matter a great deal to you.
- Unmarried partners. The England and Wales list of relatives above does not include a cohabiting partner, however long you lived together. In Northern Ireland, an unmarried partner who wants to claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) (Northern Ireland) Order 1979 has to show the person who died was supporting them financially. In Scotland, a surviving cohabitant may apply to court for financial provision from the intestate estate within six months of death. A court claim is slow, uncertain and stressful at a time of grief.
- Stepchildren. They are not “children” for intestacy purposes unless you legally adopted them.
- Friends, carers and charities. None of them appear in the order.
- In-laws. Relatives by marriage, other than a spouse or civil partner, are not on the list.
If you are in a long-term relationship but not married or in a civil partnership, this is the single strongest reason to make a will.
What if no relatives can be found
It is rare, but it happens. If no entitled relative can be traced in England and Wales, the estate passes to the Crown as bona vacantia. Scotland and Northern Ireland have the Crown equivalents described above.
The more common problem is the opposite: relatives exist, but are distant, estranged or hard to find. Someone has to trace them before the estate can be shared out, and that takes time.
What your family has to do
With a will, you name an executor. Without one, nobody has that authority automatically. A relative must apply to the court to be allowed to deal with the estate. In England and Wales that person is called an administrator, and the document is a grant of letters of administration.
In Northern Ireland, next of kin may apply to administer the estate in this order: spouse or civil partner, child, grandchild, parent, sibling, grandparent, then aunt or uncle.
Once they have authority, the administrator has to:
- Find and value everything the person owned, and everything they owed.
- Report to HMRC and pay any Inheritance Tax that is due.
- Pay debts and funeral costs.
- Share out what is left according to the intestacy rules, not according to what the family thinks the person wanted.
The administrator cannot be generous or flexible. If the rules say a half share goes to a grown-up child, it goes to that child, even if everyone in the family knows another arrangement was intended.
There can be delays too. Banks and other organisations will not release money until the authority is in place. Relatives may disagree about who should act. Missing paperwork makes step one harder than it needs to be, and this is where most of the avoidable stress comes from.
Why the paperwork problem is as big as the will problem
Even with a will, executors often struggle because they do not know what exists. They need to find bank accounts, pensions, insurance policies, property, business interests and online accounts. Forgotten assets can sit unclaimed for years.
If you die intestate, the problem compounds. There is no letter of wishes, no named executor and often no list of anything. A grieving partner or child starts from scratch.
This is the reason a will is only half the job. The other half is making your estate easy to find and easy to hand over.
Our perspective
We built WillFull because we think the two halves belong together. A will says who gets what. A clear record of your estate lets the people you trust actually carry it out.
That is why writing a legally valid will with us is free. A simple will should not be a barrier. Our step-by-step guide asks plain-English questions about who you want to inherit and who should act for you, so you can finish it without a solicitor if your situation is straightforward.
Then comes the part most people never do: keeping a list of everything. With our Connected Estate feature, you record property, bank accounts, pensions, insurance, business interests, digital assets and logins in one place. We can look up some details automatically from HM Land Registry and Companies House, and the platform gives a live Inheritance Tax estimate as your estate changes. Your executors then get step-by-step guidance for probate and distribution, with no reliance on paper or shared passwords.
We believe the kindest thing you can leave a family is clarity. A will that is easy to act on, and an estate that is easy to see, spare the people you love weeks of searching and guesswork.
If your situation is more complicated, such as a blended family, a business, or a large estate, our directory of financial advisers and solicitors helps you find a professional to work with, and they can collaborate with you on the same plan.
— the WillFull team
How to avoid intestacy
The fix is short and mostly free of cost.
- Decide who should inherit. Write down the people and organisations you want to benefit, including anyone the intestacy rules would leave out.
- Choose executors. Pick someone you trust, and ideally a back-up. Tell them you have chosen them.
- Make the will legally valid. Follow the signing and witnessing rules for where you live. A guided tool helps you avoid mistakes that make a will invalid.
- List what you own. Property, accounts, pensions, insurance, business interests, digital assets.
- Review it. Marriage, civil partnership, divorce, children, a new home or a business change what your will should say.
If you are married or in a civil partnership, remember that a will is not just for people with a lot to leave. A short will can keep a home with your partner rather than sharing it with others.
Start your will today
You can write a legally valid will with us for free, using plain-English guided questions. If you also want your estate kept up to date for your executors, the Will + Connected estate plan is £9.99 per month after a 30-day free trial.
If you are an executor or relative trying to work out what someone left, our help for executors and family explains the steps. Where there was no active plan, Connected estate access for executors is a one-off £200 fee.
Common questions
Is there a law that gives my partner the house if we are not married?
Not in England and Wales. An unmarried partner does not appear in the order of relatives, so they have no automatic right to inherit. In Northern Ireland and Scotland a partner may be able to make a court claim, but it must be brought quickly and the outcome is uncertain. A will, or joint ownership of the home, is a more dependable route.
Do the intestacy rules differ across the UK?
Yes. England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own rules, and the amounts and shares differ. Scotland also protects spouses and children through legal rights, and Northern Ireland uses a £250,000 figure. The rules that apply depend on where the person who died was domiciled.
Who is in charge if there is no will?
No one is, until a relative applies for authority to deal with the estate. In Northern Ireland the order of people who can apply starts with the spouse or civil partner, then children. The person who gets authority must follow the intestacy rules when sharing out the estate.
What happens if nobody inherits?
If no entitled relative can be found, the estate goes to the Crown. In England and Wales this is called bona vacantia, in Scotland ultimus haeres. Tracing relatives usually comes first, so it is a last resort.
Can I make a will now if I am already married?
Yes, and it is worth doing. A will lets you decide how your partner and children share your estate, rather than leaving it to the default formula. Marriage also cancels an earlier will in much of the UK, so review yours after any change in your relationship.
Sources
- IHTM12111: Succession, intestacy in England and Wales (HMRC)
- IHTM12141: Succession, intestacy in Scotland (HMRC)
- Make a claim to a deceased person’s estate (GOV.UK)
- Inheritance and Trustees’ Powers Act 2014, Explanatory Notes
- Law of succession consultation, Chapter Two: Intestacy (Scottish Government)
- Inheritance law in Scotland, 2025 update (Scottish Parliament)
- Consultation on family law, cohabitants’ financial rights (Scottish Government)
- What to do if there is no will (nidirect)
- Probate (nidirect)