Prior Rights
When a spouse dies wholly (or partly) without leaving a will, the surviving spouse has prior rights over the estate (or the intestate part). These relate to the matrimonial home, its furniture and a cash sum. The current cash limits applicable to each are as follows:-
| House | £300,000.00 |
| Furniture | £44,000.00 |
| Cash (if the deceased is survived by children | £42,000.00 |
| Cash (if there are no children | £75,000.00 |
Prior Rights, as the name implies, are paid in preference to Legal Rights and all other interests in the deceased's estate.
