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Wills and intestacy

What are the Rules of Intestacy?

The Rules of Intestacy are the legal rules that determine who inherits when someone dies without a valid Will in England and Wales. They apply automatically and follow a defined priority order based on family relationships.

The priority order

Surviving spouse or civil partner

Where the deceased leaves a surviving spouse or civil partner and no children, the entire estate passes to the surviving spouse. Where there are also children, the surviving spouse receives all personal possessions, the first £322,000 of the rest of the estate, and half of anything above £322,000. The children share the other half.

Children

Where there is no surviving spouse or civil partner, the estate passes equally between the children. If a child has already died, their share passes to their own children equally.

Other relatives

If there are no children, the estate passes to parents, then siblings, then half-siblings, then grandparents, then aunts and uncles, then half-aunts and half-uncles. If no qualifying relative is found, the estate passes to the Crown.

Who does not inherit under intestacy?

  • Unmarried or cohabiting partners, regardless of how long the relationship lasted
  • Stepchildren who were not legally adopted
  • Friends, carers, or others the deceased may have wished to benefit
  • Charities the deceased may have supported

YouCanDoProbate’s Intestacy Walkthrough guides you through the family circumstances step by step to establish who is entitled to inherit without requiring you to know the rules.

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Michael Trenerry
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90 years old Computer Dummy & Dyslectic

Being 90 years old found the prospect of applying for probate extremely daunting, the registrar of deaths told me to approach the “Bereavement Support Group” who in turn informed me of the web site to down load forms from, this I achieved (all 22pages), and commenced to fill in the answers required, got stuck on one question but the system would then not let me to advance to stage 2 until all was 100% on stage 1. Then phoned “You Can Do Probate” and a gentleman then proceeded to not only help with the unanswered question in Stage.1 but over the next two hours took me thro all the other stages, after which he told me to read very carefully thro the answers for any typo’s or anything not to my liking and to phone him (Giving me his personal phone no) if so. there was one item I was not happy with so made contact again, and he then very carefully took me thro the procedure to make these changes (could never achieved by myself) Then on the 24th July mailed all pages to the Probate Service and on the 14th August received my Probate Certificates Wunderbar

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JEH Executors
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Probate application.

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After receiving a very expensive quote from a local solicitors I found this website and as an administrator myself thought how hard can this be. I read the reviews and watched the video before I purchased to make sure it was right for me. I followed the on-line steps and filled in the questions so a little bit of time and effort is required. I had 2 x queries which were dealt with within the hour once on the phone and once by email. Once the forms were complete, I printed off and posted to HMCTS Probate. I had an email from them confirming receipt on 19th June and I received an email yesterday 26th June telling me Probate had been granted so this website has done exactly what I needed it to do.

LCrown
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Helpful staff and good online service

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Andre
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Additional costs: The probate registry fee of £526 (for all estates over £5,000) and any additional official copies at £2 each. (Payable directly to HM Courts and Tribunals Service by cheque or postal order, enclosed with your application forms).
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© YouCanDoProbate • YouCanDoProbate is a trading name of Kabing Ltd.
YouCanDoProbate is an online platform providing legal forms and information. YouCanDoProbate is not a law firm and is not regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Our online probate and inheritance tax service is an online platform providing probate and inheritance tax forms and information to allow you to complete inheritance tax returns and apply for probate yourself. Our telephone, email and livechat support provides guidance only, we do not provide bespoke advice, including estate planning or tax advice and it is not a substitute for a lawyer’s advice about complex estate planning or tax issues.
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