If you fail to make a last will and testament, then who determines who gets what? Things may not proceed how you would have chosen. To ensure your wishes are followed, you need to build a will.

If you pass away without without leaving your will in trust it’s the state that decides how your property is distributed. The intestacy guidelines will be applied and it will not be how you will have expected or wanted.

If your currently married or have a civil partner but no offspring and your estate is worth a set figure or less then your partner would receive the entirety of the assets including any life insurance . If the estate is valued above this figure and you have surviving relatives, your spouse will still receive this figure, in addition to 50% of the surplus. There is an priority in which relatives would inherit, with surviving parents positioned at the head of the list, followed by brothers and sisters and so on.

If you have a lawful partner and offspring then your spouse will gain the specific amount as above and half of the surplus. The offspring would inherit half of the total over the excess right away and the remaining half on the death of your partner.

Should you have offspring but no legal partner, then your offspring would share the inheritance. This could not be what you’d have expected. You might have a partner who relies on you and who you might have wanted to inherit at least share of your belongings, who’d receive nothing.

To remove all potential doubt about your assets, regardless of how simple it may seem, you should draw up a last will and testament. There are several options for this. You could write it yourself or hire a professional will writer or a solicitor.

Many people write their own last will and testament, mostly using a form which you can obtain from stationers. Take care if you proceed along this route – it’s surprisingly easy to make a mistake and you could even find it void. The price of having a will drawn up, particularly a comparatively straightforward one, is not prohibitive and you can be sure that your desires will be fulfilled.

A trained will agent or a solicitor will be experienced with dealing with all types of enquiries and will be able to aid you. There could be enquiries regarding setting up trusts and maybe inheritance tax.
Having written your will, it’s a prudent idea to reassess it from time to time, as your situation changes. If you decide to amend it, then it’s probably better to nullify your existing one and have it redone. If the alterations are minimal, it could be easier to make a codicil to form a section of the last will and testament and to be used in association with it. Any codicil will have to be drawn up in the same fashion as the will in relevance signatures and witnesses.

Please be aware that any health insurance cover will terminate on the death of the will holder and no value will be attributed to It in the will.