Intestacy

Intestacy is the condition of the estate of a person who dies owning property greater than the sum of their enforceable debts and funeral expenses without having made a valid will or other binding declaration; alternatively where such a will or declaration has been made, but only applies to part of the estate, the remaining estate forms the “Intestate Estate.”

Intestacy law, also referred to as the law of descent and distribution or intestate succession statutes, refers to the body of law that determines who is entitled to the property from the estate under the rules of inheritance.

In most contemporary common-law jurisdictions, the law of intestacy is patterned after the common law of descent. Property goes first or in major part to a spouse, then to children and their descendants; if there are no descendants, the rule sends you back up the family tree to the parents, the siblings, the siblings’ descendants, the grandparents, the parents’ siblings, and the parents’ siblings’ descendants, and usually so on further to the more remote degrees of kinship. The operation of these laws varies from one jurisdiction to another.

England and Wales

In England and Wales the Intestacy Rules have been uniform since 1925 and strikingly similar rules apply in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and many Commonwealth countries and Crown dependencies. These rules have been supplemented by the discretionary provisions of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 so that fair provision can be made for a dependent spouse or other relative where the strict divisions set down in the intestacy rules would produce an unfair result, for example by providing additional support for a dependent minor or disabled child vis-a-vis an adult child who has a career and no longer depends on their parent.

If a person dies intestate with no identifiable heirs, the person’s estate generally escheats (i.e. is legally assigned) to the Crown (via the Bona Vacantia division of the Treasury Solicitor) or to the Duchies of Cornwall or Lancaster when the deceased was a resident of either; in limited cases a discretionary distribution might be made by one of these bodies to persons who would otherwise be without entitlement under strict application of the rules of inheritance.

Under the current rules if you die intestate and you are married or civil partnered, then your partner will inherit under the rules of intestacy. The rules state that if your estate is valued in excess of £250,000 then your partner will inherit the first £250,000, all of your personal belongings, and a life interest in half of the remaining estate of the deceased. Where an estate is worth more than £450,000 and there are no surviving issue but there is a surviving parent then the partner will inherit the first £450,000 along with all of the personal property, and one half of the remaining estate.