Thinking about making a Will

It is a common mistake to assume that if you are married or in a civil partnership there is no need to think about making a willl as your spouse or partner will automatically inherit all of your estate when you die. However, most people do not realise that they will probably inherit only part of it and that may be the opposite of what you really intended. So making a will is really important because from February 2009, if you die without making a will, your estate will be distributed as follows.

If you have a surviving spouse or civil partner:
" If you have no surviving children or other relatives, everything will go to your spouse or civil partner.
" Where there are surviving natural children, your spouse or civil partner gets everything if the estate is less than £250,000.
" When the estate is more than £250,000, your spouse or civil partner will inherit the personal belongings and household goods including jewellery, ornaments, antiques etc. In addition, without making a will and relying on the rules of testacy they will receive some equity in the estate - but only up to a value of £125,000 ( currently) but will get a life interest in half the remainder of the estate.
" This then allows, without making a will, for the capital to be held for your natural children, who will get it when your spouse or civil partner dies. Your spouse or civil partner will receive the interest for as long as he or she lives. The other half of your estate will be passed immediately to your children if they are under the age of 18 held in a statutory trust until they reach the age of 18.
" However, should you die without making a will and have no children or grandchildren but your parents survive you then the rules change again. Clearly this is not perhaps as unusual a circumstance as people would think with a lot of single people now deciding only to live together, not marrying, and have consciously decided not to have children.
" So in some circumstances without making a will and your parents survive you, your surviving spouse or civil partner gets everything if the estate is less than £450,000.
" But if the estate is less than £450,000, your spouse or civil partner gets the personal belongings etc, the first £450,000 of any savings or property, and half the remainder. Your parents get the other half. Plus if you have no surviving parents, any surviving brothers or sisters will receive the parents' share unless they are under 18, in which case it is held for them in a statutory trust until they reach that age.

I have a blog which highlights the importance of Will writing and covers the reasons as to why one should write a Will. It was stated that over 70% of the UK population do not have a Will, therefore i set out to create a source of information online to assist those that do not have a Will and point the reasons as to why you should write a Will.