INTESTACY RULES

BROUGHT TO YOU BY ROTHERA DOWSON AND HM GOVERNMENT

THE CHILDLESS WIDOW

If you’ve not made a Will yet, don’t worry!  The Law of England & Wales in effect “writes” one for everyone dying without a Will, through the Intestacy Rules.

Most people do leave some family, so their estates don’t usually go to the Government.  But which relatives will share in your estate?  Sometimes the answer is just what you’d have wanted, but often it is not. For example:

Imagine an elderly widow with no children.
Here’s her “Invisible Will” in Plain English.

This is the Last Will and Testament imposed by HM Government on me Mrs WIDOW NO CHILDREN who (despite not making a Will) am of sound mind etc.

1 My funeral wishes...
... are of no interest to me were anything to “happen” to me.  Wheel in some retired Vicar I never met who gets my name wrong.  If anyone comes. 

2 I leave my close friends, carers and neighbours...
... nothing.

3 I leave my church and my favourite charity...
... nothing.

4 I leave my step-children and other family of my late husband ...
... nothing.

5 I leave the taxman...
... as much as he can get. I know the Government needs it.

6 I leave everything (my pets, my personal effects, my investments, my house)...
... to some arbitrary set of distant relatives I don’t know, let alone like, whom I’ve not seen for years (and the Canadian ones, never). They’ll enjoy that.

7 I appoint as my executors...
... anyone.  Perhaps the first relative the police track down.  Or the Treasury Solicitor.  No rush to get started.

8 In short...
... I leave a mess.

Signed (in invisible ink) by me
Mrs Widow No Children as my
Last Will whether I really want it or not:

IF THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT, YOU NEED TO WRITE A WILL.

ROTHERA DOWSON CAN HELP YOU WITH THIS.

It may not cost as much as you think. And what it does cost is money you’ll never in fact need to spend on yourself. Treat it as a first instalment of what you’re leaving to the people you do want to inherit.

For some clients it can even be done for free. For more information contact the Wills & Probate department at Rothera Dowson Solicitors on 0800 124 4012.