The laws of intestacy in England and Wales

1. If the deceased has a surviving spouse or civil partner, they are the primary beneficiary. They receive all personal effects, £270,000 (free of tax, costs, and interest from death until payment at the Bank of England base rate), and half of the remaining estate. If the remaining estate is worth less than £270,000, the spouse or civil partner receives everything, and there's nothing left for the deceased's issue (children, grandchildren, etc.)

2. If the deceased has children (or further issue, like grandchildren, if the children have predeceased), they inherit all of the estate, divided equally. If the deceased had a spouse or civil partner, and the remaining estate after the spouse or civil partner's share is more than £270,000, then the children divide the remaining half of the estate equally.

3. If there are no surviving spouse or issue, the estate goes to the following relatives in this order: parents of the deceased; siblings of whole blood (or their issue); siblings of half blood (or their issue); grandparents of the deceased; uncles or aunts of whole blood (or their issue); uncles or aunts of half blood (or their issue). These relatives, if they exist, take all of the estate, divided equally if there's more than one.

4. If none of the above relatives are alive, then the Crown receives everything.

We created a flowchart reflecting the intestacy rules where an individual died on or after 6 February 2020.

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