Intestacy – Why should this never happen?

Intestacy – What does this mean?

Intestacy refers to the situation where a person dies without having made a valid Will. This means assets at the date of death will almost certainly not be distributed as the individual would have intended, but will be distributed according to the highly rigid rules of intestacy. These are legal rules outlining how an estate should be divided when no Will exists.

Intestacy rules

As mentioned, these rules are very rigid and do not take into account any personal circumstances. If an individual dies intestate, you might expect their assets to be distributed to their partner. If the individual is not married, intestacy rules bypass their partner all together. Even if the individual is married or in a civil partnership, this does not necessarily mean that all the assets will go to the spouse or civil partner. The Society of Will Writers have an easy to follow, but hard hitting flowchart which describes the rules. Please see this below:

Important reasons for making a Will

Of course, an individual avoids the consequences of dying intestate when they make a valid Will, which is in itself a very good reason to make Will. There are a multitude of other reasons as to why it is important to make a valid Will. Some of these are as follows:

1. Executors – They oversee the wishes of the deceased and ensure these are carried out. – A person making a Will (testator) can choose their own executors. This should be individuals or an organisation who can be trusted to act in a legally responsible manner and can act diligently, fairly and transparently. If a person dies intestate, then someone close to the deceased must go through the process of applying to become the administrator of the deceased’s estate through the court.
2. Guardians – Much like the appointment of executors, the testator can appoint guardians to look after their children (under the age of 18), following their death.
3. Asset protection – A Will can be written in such a way as to preserve assets through trusts, to ensure these can be used after the death of the testator as they intend.
4. Tax savings – If sufficient planning is carried out, by taking into account the testator’s own position regarding their finances, nil rate band and other personal information, a Will can be used to help mitigate potential inheritance tax at their death.

In summary, everyone over the age of 18 should make a Will. As well as this, individuals should also take care to ensure that their Will is always kept up to date. The Society of Will Writers recommends that everyone should review their Will every 3-5 years or after every significant life change, such as marriage, divorce, birth of children, death of a beneficiary and so on. Once a new Will is signed and witnessed correctly, this automatically supersedes the previous Will.