Nothing good happens when you die without a Will

Right, so you’ve decided not to bother writing a will. Maybe you’re too busy. Maybe you think it’s all a bit morbid, or perhaps you’ve just assumed that after you shuffle off this mortal coil, everyone will simply “work it out.” Well, if that’s your plan then the last thing anyone will remember about you is the massive headache you gave them from beyond the grave.

So, what does happen when you die without a will? Simple. The government steps in to sort it out for you. First up, your estate goes into what’s charmingly called “intestacy.” No, that’s not a place in Italy. It’s a legal term that means your assets are now at the mercy of ancient rules, written by people who thought a carriage was cutting-edge technology. These rules, as you can imagine, don’t care if you had a complicated family situation. No, the law will just divvy things up based on a rigid hierarchy, and good luck to anyone who doesn’t fit into their neat little categories.

If you’re married and think, “Well, everything will just go to my spouse, no worries,” think again. It doesn’t work like that. If you’ve got kids, your spouse gets a cut, sure—but not the whole estate. The rest is split between your spouse and your children. Which, if you’ve got grown-up kids who already have homes, cars, and a fondness for skiing holidays, isn’t exactly ideal. And if you’ve got young children, congratulations, their inheritance could by locked away in some legal vault until they come of age. Meanwhile, your spouse is left scrambling to figure out how to pay the bills with half a house and a frozen bank account.

And that’s if you’re lucky. If you’re unmarried, well, it gets even messier. Your long-term partner, the one you’ve spent the last 20 years with? The one who’s been putting up with your snoring, your taste in terrible TV, and your insistence on BBQing in the rain? They could end up with nothing. Nada. Zilch. Everything could go to your blood relatives, no matter how distant or irrelevant they might be. So, while your partner is left grieving (and probably selling the house just to keep their head above water), your estranged cousin in Margate who once borrowed your lawnmower and never returned it is now planning a luxury cruise, courtesy of your hard-earned cash.

And it doesn’t stop there. If you’ve got no close relatives—no spouse, no kids, no parents still kicking about—then we enter the truly absurd. The government will start combing through the family tree, looking for anyone with a vague genetic connection to you. That uncle you haven’t seen since you were five? He’s suddenly a key player. Or maybe it’s your third cousin Gerald, who you met once at a wedding, though he spent most of it drunkenly telling you about his collection of miniature spoons. Well, guess what? Gerald might just be your new heir.

And if, somehow, they can’t find anyone—no relatives at all—then guess what? The state gets everything. That’s right, your house and cash all handed over to the government. The very same people who’ll likely blow it all on a new road sign or a public art installation that looks suspiciously like an unfinished IKEA bookshelf.

So, what’s the moral of the story here? If you die without a will, you’re not saving yourself time or effort. You’re leaving your family in the middle of a legal minefield, where every step they take could blow up into a lengthy, expensive court battle.

Writing a will isn’t hard. It’s not glamorous, but neither is paying your taxes or cleaning out the gutters—and you still do those things (or at least, I hope you do).

So, if you haven’t written a will yet, do it. Do it now.

As Wills Lawyers in Oxford, Marlow and London, we serve these areas with expertise. For more information, contact Anna Boucher on 07534 581748 or at anna.boucher@theburnsidepartnership.com