Dying without a will in England and Wales means the Administration of Estates Act 1925 — not your wishes — determines who gets everything. Married or civil-partnered spouses receive the first £322,000 plus personal chattels outright, plus half of what remains. Children share the other half. Unmarried partners, no matter how long the relationship lasted, receive nothing.
What intestacy actually means
When a person dies without a valid will, or with a will that only partially disposes of the estate, the estate is described as intestate. The rules governing distribution are set out in the Administration of Estates Act 1925, most recently updated by the Inheritance and Trustees' Powers Act 2014. Those rules follow a strict priority order. They do not consider who the deceased cared about most, who relied on them financially, or who looked after them in old age.
The rules apply across England and Wales. Scotland has its own regime under the Succession (Scotland) Act 1964, and Northern Ireland follows the Administration of Estates Act (Northern Ireland) 1955. If property is held jointly as beneficial joint tenants — a common arrangement for co-owners of a family home — it passes automatically to the surviving co-owner outside the intestacy rules entirely, regardless of what any will or these rules say.
The spousal threshold and what happens above it
Under the current intestacy rules, a surviving spouse or civil partner receives all personal chattels (furniture, jewellery, vehicles, and similar items) and a statutory legacy of £322,000 free of inheritance tax and costs. This figure was set by The Administration of Estates Act 1925 (Fixed Net Sum) Order 2023, which came into force on 26 July 2023, increasing the threshold from the £270,000 set by the earlier 2020 Order.
If the estate is worth more than £322,000 after chattels, the surplus is divided. The surviving spouse or civil partner takes half of the remainder absolutely. The other half passes to the deceased's children — or if any child predeceased the intestate leaving their own children, to those grandchildren in equal shares under the statutory trusts rules in section 47 of the Act.
Where the deceased left no children or remoter issue, the surviving spouse or civil partner inherits the entire estate outright. There is no cap.
The unmarried partner problem
Cohabitants — couples who live together but are not married or in a civil partnership — have no automatic entitlement under the intestacy rules. None. A couple can share a home for thirty years, raise children together, and build their entire financial life jointly. If one dies without a will, the survivor has no right to the estate under the Administration of Estates Act 1925.
The only available remedy is a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. Section 1(1)(ba) of that Act allows a person who was living with the deceased as a spouse or civil partner for the two years immediately before death to apply to court for reasonable financial provision. The applicant must meet the two-year cohabitation test strictly — courts have rejected claims where cohabitation was interrupted or disputed — and the court's award is discretionary. Winning is not guaranteed. Legal costs can easily exceed the award in smaller estates.
Children, parents, siblings: the priority list
Where the deceased left no surviving spouse or civil partner, the entire estate passes to relatives in this strict order under the Act:
- Children (including children of void marriages and, since the Family Law Reform Act 1987, non-marital children equally)
- Parents
- Siblings of the whole blood (same mother and father)
- Siblings of the half blood
- Grandparents
- Aunts and uncles of the whole blood
- Aunts and uncles of the half blood
Each category is exhausted before moving to the next. If the deceased left two living parents but no children, both parents split the estate equally. If only one parent survives, that parent takes everything. Half-siblings rank below full siblings; they only inherit if no full sibling (or child of a deceased full sibling) survives.
Adopted children are treated identically to biological children under section 39 of the Adoption Act 1976. Step-children who were never legally adopted inherit nothing under the intestacy rules, regardless of how close the relationship was.
If no relatives within any of these categories can be found, the estate passes to the Crown as bona vacantia under section 46(1)(vi) of the Administration of Estates Act 1925. The Treasury Solicitor's office deals with these estates.
Codicils, partial intestacy and the practical chaos
A will that exists but fails to dispose of all the estate creates a partial intestacy. The undisposed portion falls into the intestacy rules. This happens more often than people expect — residuary clauses that lapse because a beneficiary predeceased the testator, specific gifts of assets that were sold before death, or poorly drafted catch-all provisions. The result is that even estates where a will exists can end up partly governed by the 1925 Act.
A related problem: wills that are valid on their face but later revoked by marriage. Under section 18 of the Wills Act 1837, marriage automatically revokes an existing will unless the will was expressly made in contemplation of that specific marriage. A person who makes a will, then marries, and dies without updating the will dies intestate for most purposes.
What an administrator must do
Without a will, there is no named executor. Instead, a person with entitlement to administer the estate applies to the Probate Registry for a grant of letters of administration. Priority goes first to the surviving spouse or civil partner, then to children, then to further relatives in the statutory order under the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987.
Obtaining letters of administration requires an oath confirming the intestacy, a completed PA1A form, an inheritance tax account where the estate may be taxable, and the Probate Registry fee (£300 for estates over £5,000 as of the current fee schedule). The process typically takes four to twelve weeks if no disputes arise, longer if family members contest who should administer.
Why a will matters more than most people think
The gap between what the intestacy rules produce and what most people actually want is often significant. A will allows you to name a guardian for minor children — the intestacy rules say nothing about guardianship. A will permits charitable gifts, specific bequests to friends or stepchildren, and trust arrangements for young beneficiaries or those with disabilities. Without a will, a child under 18 whose parent dies intestate receives their share on a statutory trust until they turn 18, at which point they inherit outright — with no conditions and no trustee discretion.
For anyone in a long-term unmarried relationship, the stakes are higher still. The intestacy rules will pass an estate to distant relatives over a cohabiting partner of decades. Writing a clear, properly witnessed will is the only reliable way to ensure the person you have chosen inherits what you intend them to have. A free England and Wales last will and testament template on forms-legal.com covers the core requirements under the Wills Act 1837, including the two-witness signing rule under section 9.
Common misconceptions
Several widely held beliefs about intestacy are simply wrong.
"My partner gets everything automatically." Only a spouse or civil partner qualifies under the Administration of Estates Act 1925. A cohabiting partner of any duration does not.
"My children will look after the surviving parent." Adult children have no legal duty to redirect their intestacy entitlement. They can disclaim it or take it — but they cannot be forced to hold it for a parent's benefit unless they agree.
"A joint bank account fixes everything." Joint accounts pass by survivorship outside the estate, so a joint account balance does reach the surviving account holder. But the rest of the estate — the house held as tenants in common, individual savings accounts, personal pension death benefits paid to the estate rather than nominated beneficiaries — does not.
"The rules will figure it out." Administration of Estates Act 1925 was last comprehensively updated in 1952, with incremental amendments since. The statutory legacy threshold has not kept pace with house price inflation in most parts of England. In an estate worth £1 million, a surviving spouse receives £322,000 plus half the remaining £678,000 — their total share is about £661,000. The children share the other £339,000. Whether that outcome matches what anyone wanted is a different question.
What you should do now
If your estate would not produce the outcome you intend under the rules above, write a will. The Wills Act 1837 requirements are specific: the document must be in writing, signed by the testator, and witnessed by two people present at the same time, neither of whom is a beneficiary or married to a beneficiary. Failing any of those steps produces the same outcome as having no will at all.
Cohabiting couples should also consider whether a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 would even be available, and whether relying on discretionary court proceedings is acceptable. A straightforward will removes that uncertainty entirely.
Review any existing will after marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, or a significant change in assets. Each of those events can affect what was intended when the will was drafted, and marriage revokes a will automatically under the 1837 Act unless the contemplation-of-marriage exception applies.
Need the document itself? Download the free template →
This article is general information, not legal advice — see our accuracy & editorial policy. Confirm the cited law is current before relying on it.