Countless people will not consider writing a will for a selection of reasons, it can be a difficult chat to have with family so individuals push back the decision, and some persons might not believe they hold enough assets or money to justify a will. Writing a will not only helps keeps everything in order and simplifies the handling of your estate after death, but it is not a pricey thing to do either, with the cheapest will writing available from £60 from some solicitors.

So what exactly happens upon the death of someone who does not have a will? To recode it into legal gobbledygook it would be called dying “Intestate”,  at this point it is the law/state that will have final say on who deals with the probate and who inherits.  The court will not just appoint Joe Bloggs off the street to deal with the estate, each nation state will have some sort of succession order preserved in law, for example purposes we will use the series order in England, Wales and N. Ireland (Scotland has its own, more convoluted succession order, so it’s best to keep it separate), it goes without saying the key outline of the order will in all possibility be the same in most countries and only alter when it comes to the finer details. Whichever nation you are in one facet is certain to be common, and that is the fact that depending on the complexity of the estate, it can take anywhere from months to years for the probate to be finalised on an estate. So whoever is at the apex of the succession tree better be geared up, as for the succession it works like this, the spouse or civil partner will come before everyone, next stair down is the departed’s child or children then followed by parents, if the late person has a partner but was unmarried they will not included in the succession. After this point it descends into grandparents, uncles and aunties, if there is without doubt no one to conduct the estate, “The Crown” will assign someone, though if there is no one to oversee the estate it most likely means there is also no one to inherit; ergo the estate will pass to The Crown. Just in case anyone is befuddled by this, The Crown simply means the Government in this situation; the estate will pass to the taxman to do with as it pleases. If you are worried it might fall this far, go to: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Death/Preparation/DG_10029802 for more meticulous information, it will seldom fall this far down the hierarchy.

To become the administrator an application for a grant of “Letters of Administration” will be vital, it will act as legal proof for banks, building societies and any other organisations you have to deal with that you and you alone have the right to access the departed’s accounts. To receive the grant, you can make a personal application or the solicitor you have working on the probate can make the submission on your behalf, the choice is yours. At this point it is important to point out that, while the word probate is used here, to be precise in law and legal lingo it only refers to a case where there is a will, however in practice, even without a will available this part of the administration is also called probate, most likely just to dodge more confusion in the process. One other thing to be aware of in relation to the grant is that before it can be granted, any Inheritance Tax (IHT) owed from the estate must be paid to HMRC, the current IHT upper limit at the time of writing stands at £325,000, if the estates assets break above this level 40% tax is charged by the Treasury. The only time a grant will not be required is if the estate is held joint with someone else, clearly the other holder of the estate will deal with what comes about next, additionally if the estate is valued below 5k a grant is most likely not needed either, although that will depend on personal conditions.

When it comes to Scotland, dying without a will falls under the Succession (Scotland) Act 1964, which is amended when it needs to be, i.e. to include civil partnerships and adjustments along a similar line. The succession line for administration will again be along a related line with the rest of the United Kingdom, nonetheless the devil is in the detail and particular people can leapfrog upwards depending on circumstances, for a good comparison between Scotland and the rest of the UK look at the table on this website: http://www.primewills.co.uk/dying_without_will.htm. To learn more about who administers a Will-less estate this webpage should also have all the information you need – http://www.scotland.gov.uk/publications/2003/08/17011/21439.

So that wraps up what happens without a will, I think you’ll agree it’s worth writing one and sparing loved ones such hassle at a stressful time, offering peace of mind to you and your family.

Debi McGrady works at JustLifeInsurance.com a site dedicated to providing free life insurance advice, and market leading life insurance quotes.