Intestacy

When a person dies without leaving a Will, they are described as having died intestate, which means that their estate will be distributed according to the rules of intestacy.

In England and Wales, there is a statutory set of rules that are enforced if you die intestate. Your estate would be divided according to this fixed set of rules, irrespective of what your intentions actually were, and that means your estate might not be divided in the way you expect – or want!.

The rules will enforce the division of your estate in a fixed order as below:

A partial intestacy might occur when someone has accounted for only part of their estate in their will. For example, they may have made a will that dictated who their main house may be left to, but not mentioned their other assets, like money in bank accounts. In this case, the house may be left to the beneficiary according to the Will, but any other assets not accounted for in the will should be distributed according to the rules of intestacy.