Question 2
What happens if I die without a Will?
The law decides who succeeds to your estate. If you are married and your spouse survives you, he or she will first have Prior Rights in your estate. Next, your spouse (and children, if you have any) will have Legal Rights in your estate. After Prior and Legal Rights (if any) have been satisfied, the rest of your estate will pass to your nearest blood relative(s), who may take in preference to your spouse! Only your blood relatives have a share, so none of your spouse’s relatives would receive anything. As you will see this can produce unexpected and unwelcome results, which is why you are better to make a Will.
Cohabitees also now have rights in relation to the estates of their deceased former partner’s estate where he or she left no Will. This is so even if the deceased co-habitant was married and/or had children at the time of his or her death. For this reason it s now, more than ever, important to make a Will if you are in a co-habiting relationship.
