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3.If there are no children but
there are parents, brothers, sisters, nephews or nieces, then the spouse
takes the personal chattels plus £200,000 plus half the residue.
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The other half of the residue is
given in order to either:
a) parent(s) or if they are
dead then to
b) brothers and sisters or
if they are dead then to nephews and nieces
4.If there is no surviving
spouse then everything is taken by:
a) children but if none then by
b) parents but if none then by
c) brother, sisters or nephews and
nieces
d) grandparents but if none then
by
e) uncles, aunts or cousins - but
if none then by
f) The Crown
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Can you see any problems with the
above arrangements? Do you know anyone who would be pleased to have their
property disposed of according to one of the above formulae.?
There are so many well documented
cases of extreme hardship and difficulty resulting from people dying intestate.
Effects of Intestacy
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Mr and Mrs
Williams were both aged 55. They had a son aged 23 and a married daughter of 27.
Mr Williams had recently inherited a house from his mother and had sold this for
£80,000; He had invested half this money in shares and the other half was on
deposit in the Building Society.
Mr Williams
died unexpectedly without leaving a Will. He had been expecting to retire within
the next few years and had built up £93,000 in his pension fund - he was also
insured for a death in service benefit of 4 times his salary. He was earning
£24,000 at the time. Fortunately, Mr and Mrs Williams had paid off their
mortgage and their house was in joint names.
Excluding the
house and personal chattels, Mr Williams left an estate of £269,000. Because
there was no Will, Mrs Williams was allowed £125,000 absolutely. Of the
remaining £144,000, Mrs Williams was entitled to £72,000 to provide an income -
but she is not allowed to spend any of this capital - she has to pass this on
to her son and daughter.
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The other
£72,000 should be divided between the son and daughter. Mrs Williams daughter
and son-in-law were running their own business; within 15 months of Mr Williams
death, their business ran into trouble accumulating large debts. The daughter's
inheritance of £36,000 was counted among their assets and she had no option but
to take this sum of money out of the family funds .........
The story above is fairly typical.
Probably, Mr Williams would have wanted his wife to have full unrestricted
access to his estate. Mrs Williams is now much less comfortably provided for
than she would have been if Mr Williams had written a straightforward Will. But
there are many worse examples.
If the house is not in joint names
or if the estate is not passing between husband and wife then it frequently
occurs that the family home has to be sold to meet the requirements of the
Intestacy Rules. |
