When someone dies without a will

If your loved one hasn’t left a will behind, it means that they have not specified who their inheritance should go to. The estate of the deceased will go into probate, and the rules of intestacy then decide who is entitled to the inheritance. No court decides this – intestacy is a fixed order set out in law, and there is no hearing at which a case can be argued.

The rules described on this page are the ones that apply in England and Wales. Scotland has its own system of prior rights and legal rights, and Northern Ireland has separate rules again.

What does intestacy mean?

Intestacy means if someone dies without a will. Read on to find out how intestacy rules work.

What is a beneficiary?

A beneficiary is someone who receives inheritance from their loved one.

What is an executor role?

An executor is the person who has legal responsibility to deal with the estate of the deceased. If a will has been created, this will be the deceased’s next of kin or their chosen friend or family member. But if someone dies without a will there is no executor, and you will have to apply for the right to become administrator of the estate instead.

What is the estate?

The estate means any properties, financial assets or belongings that the deceased has left behind.

How does probate work without a will?

If someone dies without a will, only certain people are legally allowed to apply for probate, or to be the administrator. The administrator will receive letters of administration that prove the administrator is legally allowed to deal with the estate. Applying to be administrator is the equivalent step to applying for probate: where there is a will, the executor named in it is granted probate, and where there is no will, the administrator is granted letters of administration instead.

You can apply to be administrator if you are:

• Next of kin
• Or, if you were in a civil partnership or marriage with the deceased

You can then apply to be administrator in the following order of priority – if you are:

• The married or civil partner
• The child
• The grandchild
• The parent
• The brother or sister
• The nephew or niece
• Another relative

The probate process without a will can take anything from a few months to years. This depends on how complicated the estate is, for example, if the deceased owned property abroad or if there are complicated family relationships to think about. Many people choose a solicitor to carry out the probate process for them. However, the legal fees for this can be expensive. If this isn’t an option for you, you can organise probate yourself.

Once you have received letters of administration, the rules of intestacy set out how the inheritance is split and given out. No court decides this and there is nothing to apply for – the order is fixed in law. If the individual was part of a marriage or civil partnership, and they didn’t have any children, their partner will receive the whole estate. If they did have children, the husband, wife or civil partner receives the personal possessions, a fixed sum set in law and half of what is left, and the children share the rest equally. You can check the current fixed sum on GOV.UK.

What if you were not married?

An unmarried partner inherits nothing under the rules of intestacy, however long you were together and whether or not you had children together. There is no such thing in law as a common law spouse, however often the phrase is used. The same applies to stepchildren who were never legally adopted, and to friends and carers. If you are in that position, take legal advice quickly, because there are time limits on making a claim against an estate.

More on the practical steps in the first few weeks.