Do I Need a Will?

Dying without a valid will is called dying intestate, and in that case the intestacy rules set out in law decide who inherits your estate, in a fixed order regardless of your actual relationships or wishes. This can produce results that surprise families, such as a share going to estranged relatives while a long-term partner receives nothing.

The intestacy rules also do not allow for guardianship wishes, specific gifts to friends or charities, or tailored arrangements for stepchildren, so anyone with these kinds of wishes needs a will to make sure they are actually followed.

The rules work through a fixed order of relatives, starting with a spouse or civil partner and children, then moving through parents, siblings, and more distant relatives if closer family do not survive you. If nobody in that order can be found, the entire estate passes to the Crown, which, while rare, shows how far the rules are from reflecting personal wishes rather than legal defaults.

Unmarried partners, however long they have lived together, have no automatic right to inherit under the intestacy rules, no matter how long the relationship has lasted. If you are cohabiting and want your partner to inherit, a will is the only reliable way to make that happen.

This applies no matter how the couple present themselves, whether they own a home together, have children together, or have lived as a couple for decades. Without a will or a jointly owned asset that passes automatically, a surviving cohabiting partner may need to bring a separate legal claim for provision from the estate, which is stressful, uncertain and avoidable with a properly made will.

If you have children under 18, a will lets you name a guardian to care for them if both parents die. Without a will, the decision about who looks after your children would be left to family members or the courts to resolve, which can cause delay and disagreement at an already difficult time.

If you want to leave gifts to friends, charities, or people outside your immediate family, or you are part of a blended family with stepchildren or children from a previous relationship, the intestacy rules are very unlikely to reflect what you actually want. A will lets you set out exactly who benefits and by how much.

Even where the intestacy rules would broadly match what you want, for example a married couple with children who intend everything to pass to each other and then the children, a will avoids uncertainty, can simplify the probate process, and lets you name your own choice of executor. For anyone with more complex wishes, a solicitor's advice may be needed alongside or instead of a standard will.

If you have remarried, or have children from a previous relationship, the intestacy rules can produce outcomes that do not match what either you or your family would expect. A surviving spouse in a second marriage may receive a fixed sum plus a share of the remainder, while children from an earlier relationship may end up with less than you intended, or a stepchild with no automatic entitlement at all.

A will lets you set out clearly how you want to balance the interests of a current spouse or partner against children from an earlier relationship, which is one of the situations where taking a little time over the decisions, and sometimes getting legal advice, makes the biggest practical difference.