What happens when somebody dies without making a will

When somebody dies without making a will then they will have died as what is referred to as ‘Intestate’. This is not the only way someone can die Intestate, and this is also possible if someone made an invalid will or successfully revoked a will they had made.

If someone has died intestate or is presumed to have died intestate the first thing you should do is take reasonable steps to confirm this is the case by looking for a will. This may involve conducting a thorough search of the Deceased’s home, by applying to search the national register of wills, contacting the Deceased’s last known solicitor or other local solicitors the Deceased may have used or by putting a notice in the Law Society Gazette or a local paper requesting information about the location of any will a Deceased may have made. If after a reasonable search a will cannot be found then you should consider the following.  

If there are assets in the estate (e.g. a property, personal property, money in bank accounts) it will need to be established if it is necessary to apply for a Grant of Letters of Administration (“GOLA”) over the estate, and who is entitled to apply for this. The order of individuals with priority to apply for a GOLA are governed by the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (the “Act”) and will follow as below in order of priority, although this is not exhaustive with the Act containing further provisions if the Deceased died without leaving the below:  

• The Deceased’s spouse or civil partner;  
• The Deceased’s child or children (also referred to as ‘issue’);  
• The Deceased’s parent or parents; and  
• The Deceased’s brothers or sisters of the whole blood of the intestate.  

More about administering estates. 

Once the above has been established you will need to understand who is entitled to inherit under the estate of the intestate. This again largely follows a similar pattern to the above:  

• If the Deceased is survived by a spouse or civil partner (and there are no other surviving children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren) then they will inherit the personal property and belongings of the Deceased as well as the whole residuary estate;  

• If the Deceased is survived by a spouse or civil partner but there are also surviving children, grandchildren or great grandchildren AND the estate is valued at over £270,000 then this will be different to above:  

• The spouse/civil partner will inherit the belongings and personal property as above, however, will inherit the first £270,000 of the estate, and then half of the remaining residuary estate. In this situation any children of the Deceased would either inherit the remaining half of the residuary estate or have this split equally between them if there are more than one in number;  

• If there is no surviving spouse or civil partner but there are surviving children, then they will inherit the whole estate. If there are several children, then they will inherit the estate in equal shares;  

Grandchildren and great-grandchildren can also inherit from the estate of an Intestate however only if their parent or grandparent died before the Intestate. They would inherit in the same share that their parent or grandparent would have been entitled to.  

Those entitled to inherit from the estate of an intestate does carry on to other close relatives being parents, siblings and nieces and nephews of the intestate person and so in this regard we would always recommend that you seek independent legal advice regarding who would inherit from the estate of an Intestate, especially if the situation is complex.