Who inherits if you die without a will in the UK?
If you die without a valid will in England & Wales, you die intestate, and a fixed set of rules — not your wishes — decides who inherits. A surviving spouse or civil partner comes first. If you have no children, they inherit the whole estate.
If you do have children, your spouse takes all your personal possessions, the first £322,000 outright (the statutory legacy), and half of anything left above that; your children share the other half equally, held on trust until they turn 18.
The single most important point: an unmarried partner inherits nothing under intestacy, however long you have lived together and even with joint children. There is no such thing in law as a 'common-law spouse'.
The same applies to stepchildren you have not legally adopted. A will is the only way to provide for them — use the calculator above to see exactly who would inherit in your situation, and the actual £ amounts.
Statutory legacy of £322,000 applies to deaths on or after 26 July 2023 (SI 2023/758), under the Administration of Estates Act 1925 as amended. England & Wales only.
The order of inheritance
Intestacy follows a strict order. The estate passes to the first category in which a qualifying relative survives — and never skips to a later one while an earlier one exists.
- Spouse or civil partnerTakes all (no children) or the statutory legacy plus half the remainder (with children).
- Children & their descendantsInherit equally; a deceased child's share passes to that child's own children.
- ParentsInherit equally — or all of it if only one parent survives.
- Brothers & sisters (whole blood) & their childrenWhere there is no surviving spouse, child or parent.
- Half-brothers & half-sisters & their childrenOf the half blood, where there are no whole-blood siblings.
- GrandparentsWhere none of the above survive.
- Uncles & aunts (whole blood) & their childrenThen uncles and aunts of the half blood.
- The Crown (bona vacantia)If no qualifying relative can be found at all.
Three real splits people get wrong
What the law actually says
Most guides paraphrase the intestacy rules. These are the words of the Acts themselves, for the eight rules families most often get wrong, each linked to the provision on legislation.gov.uk. England & Wales only.
| The rule | What the Act says | Where |
|---|---|---|
| A spouse or civil partner, with children | takes “the personal chattels absolutely”, and the rest of the estate stands charged with “a fixed net sum, free of death duties and costs” | AEA 1925 s.46(1)(i) |
| The other half | after the fixed sum, half is held for the spouse or civil partner and half “on the statutory trusts for the issue of the intestate” | AEA 1925 s.46(1)(i) |
| Interest on the fixed sum | runs from the date of death at the Bank of England rate “that had effect at the end of the day on which the intestate died” | AEA 1925 s.46(1A) |
| A spouse who dies within 28 days | where the spouse or civil partner “survived the intestate but died before the end of the period of 28 days”, the estate passes as if they “had not survived the intestate” | AEA 1925 s.46(2A) |
| Children under 18 | inherit outright only when they “attain the age of eighteen years or marry under that age or form a civil partnership under that age” (as amended); until then the share is held on trust | AEA 1925 s.47(1)(i) |
| A child who died first | that child’s own children take their parent’s share, “according to their stocks, in equal shares if more than one” | AEA 1925 s.47(1)(i) |
| Nobody entitled | the estate “shall belong to the Crown or to the Duchy of Lancaster or to the Duke of Cornwall for the time being”, as bona vacantia | AEA 1925 s.46(1)(vi) |
| A claim by anyone left out | an application to the court “shall not, except with the permission of the court, be made after the end of the period of six months from the date on which representation with respect to the estate of the deceased is first taken out” | I(PFD)A 1975 s.4 |
Which fixed sum applies: it depends on the date of death
The spouse's fixed sum is the one in force on the day the person died, not the day the estate is dealt with. An executor still settling a death from before July 2023 uses the older figure.
| Date of death | Fixed sum | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| On or after 26 July 2023 | £322,000 | SI 2023/758 |
| 6 February 2020 to 25 July 2023 | £270,000 | SI 2020/33 |
| 1 February 2009 to 5 February 2020 | £250,000 | SI 2009/135 |
Deaths before 1 October 2014 also followed older rules in other ways, changed by the Inheritance and Trustees' Powers Act 2014; read the rules in force at the date of death. Scotland follows the Succession (Scotland) Act 1964 (prior and legal rights), and Northern Ireland has its own sums: nidirect: what to do if there is no will.
Prefer an independent adviser? The Law Society, STEP and the Chartered Institute of Taxation keep public directories, and none of them pays Valoren a referral fee.
Intestacy rules — your questions
This tool applies England & Wales intestacy rules under the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (as amended). Statutory legacy: £322,000 (SI 2023/758, in force from 26 July 2023). This is general information, not legal advice.
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