- Small estates: If the estate is under £322,000, the surviving spouse or civil partner inherits everything, but only if they live at least 28 days after the death.
- Larger estates: If it’s worth more than £322,000, the estate is split between the spouse/civil partner and the children. Stepchildren don’t qualify, but adopted children are treated the same as biological children.
- Passing shares down: If a child who should inherit has already died, their share goes to their descendants instead.
If an estate is worth less than £322,000, a surviving spouse or civil partner will inherit the whole estate including all personal effects, but only if they survive at least 28 days after the death of the person who has died intestate.
So, for example, if a wife dies just three weeks after her husband, the Rules of Intestacy specify that his estate goes to his children or other of his close relatives (if there are no children), whether or not the wife has made a valid will. Her will now becomes irrelevant to how his assets are divided. It remains relevant to anything she owned solely in her own name.
For estates over £322,000 the position becomes more complex: the estate is divided between a surviving spouse or civil partner, and the children of the person who died. Stepchildren have no entitlement and neither does anyone else whose relationship to the person who died is not by blood. The exceptions are adopted children who have full rights equal to a birth child.
If children are entitled to inherit under the Rules of Intestacy, and one of the entitled children has died before the current death, their share passes to their descendants, if any. This applies to every level of entitled relatives.
