Dying Without a Will: Intestacy Rules in England and Wales¶

The hardest hit is usually discovering that "common-law partner" means nothing in UK inheritance law.

When someone dies without a will, statute decides who inherits. It doesn't matter if they lived with someone for thirty years, had a child together, or told friends clearly that they wanted their partner to have the house. The law has a fixed order, and it follows it. [source: gov-uk/intestacy-rules-2026-04-29.html]

If you're in a relationship without marriage or civil partnership, going through a separation, or the person who died had unusual family circumstances, intestacy rules can produce outcomes that feel deeply unjust. The rules themselves are clear, even when the result isn't fair.

This guide explains what happens in England and Wales when there's no will: who inherits, in what order, and what cohabitants and unmarried partners need to know about the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

If you can only do one thing today: If the person who died didn't leave a will, and you weren't their spouse or civil partner, contact a probate solicitor or Citizens Advice within weeks, not months. Cohabitants who want to claim under the 1975 Act have a tight 6-month window from when the grant is issued. [source: gov-uk/intestacy-rules-2026-04-29.html]

The statutory order in England and Wales¶

If there's no will, the estate is distributed in this fixed order [source: gov-uk/intestacy-rules-2026-04-29.html]:

Spouse or civil partner
Children (or, if a child has died, their children)
Parents
Brothers and sisters
Grandparents
Aunts and uncles (or, if any has died, their children)
The Crown (if no relatives can be traced; this is called bona vacantia)

The grant required to administer an intestate estate is Letters of Administration rather than a Grant of Probate. The person who applies is an administrator, not an executor.

What the spouse or civil partner gets¶

If the deceased was married or in a civil partnership, the surviving spouse or civil partner inherits in full only if there are no children. If there are children, the estate is split [source: gov-uk/intestacy-rules-2026-04-29.html]:

The spouse receives all personal possessions ("personal chattels"), plus a fixed statutory legacy of £322,000, plus half of anything remaining.
The children inherit the other half of anything remaining, divided equally. [source: gov-uk/statutory-legacy-2026-04-29.html]

The £322,000 figure is the "fixed net sum" set by the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (Fixed Net Sum) Order 2023, in force since 26 July 2023. It replaced the previous £270,000 figure. The amount is updated by Statutory Instrument when the Consumer Prices Index rises by more than 15% since the last update, so the figure changes infrequently. [source: gov-uk/statutory-legacy-2026-04-29.html]

For an estate at or below the £322,000 statutory legacy, the spouse or civil partner effectively takes everything: the children inherit nothing under intestacy because there is no residue to split. [source: gov-uk/statutory-legacy-2026-04-29.html]

Two worked examples make the split clearer.

Estate of £300,000, spouse and two children. £300,000 is below the £322,000 legacy, so the spouse takes the entire estate. The children inherit nothing under intestacy. [source: gov-uk/statutory-legacy-2026-04-29.html]

Estate of £500,000, spouse and two children. The spouse takes the personal chattels and £322,000. The residue is £500,000 minus £322,000 = £178,000. The spouse takes half of that residue (£89,000), and the two children share the other £89,000 equally (£44,500 each). The spouse's total is £411,000 plus chattels; each child receives £44,500. [source: gov-uk/statutory-legacy-2026-04-29.html]

What "spouse" doesn't include¶

The intestacy rules apply only to married couples and registered civil partners.

A cohabiting partner, however long the relationship, inherits nothing under intestacy. There is no concept of "common-law marriage" in UK law. [source: gov-uk/intestacy-rules-2026-04-29.html]

This is the rule that shocks people. The fact pattern doesn't matter [source: gov-uk/intestacy-rules-2026-04-29.html]:

Five years together: nothing.
Thirty years together, financially intertwined: nothing.
Children together, unmarried: the cohabitant gets nothing; the children inherit only because they're children.
Engaged but not yet married: nothing.

The law treats a cohabitant as a stranger for inheritance purposes.

The 1975 Act: what cohabitants can claim¶

A cohabitant who was financially supported by the deceased can apply to the court under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 for "reasonable financial provision" out of the estate.

A claim under the Act is a court application, not an automatic right. The court weighs:

The applicant's financial resources and needs
The size and nature of the estate
Whether the applicant lived with the deceased as if they were a spouse for at least two years before death
Any contributions the applicant made to the household
The reasonable expectations the applicant had

A successful claim doesn't necessarily mean the cohabitant inherits everything; it might result in a lump sum, a life interest in the home, or regular maintenance payments.

The deadline is strict. The application must be made within 6 months of Letters of Administration being granted. After that, the estate has typically been distributed and the window closes. [source: gov-uk/intestacy-rules-2026-04-29.html]

If you think you may have a claim, the practical sequence is: speak to a solicitor now, not later. The same applies to financially-dependent adult children, former spouses who haven't remarried, and other dependants the Act covers.

The cost of a contested 1975 Act claim is significant: legal fees commonly run into thousands of pounds even where the claim succeeds, and the outcome is uncertain. For unmarried couples and blended families, writing a will is dramatically cheaper than relying on a court-ordered remedy after death. A simple solicitor-drafted will costs in the low hundreds; a contested claim can run to five figures with no guarantee of success. This is the practical case for making a will before anything goes wrong, not after.

What "I was promised the house" doesn't do¶

Verbal promises are not binding. If the deceased said "I'm leaving you the house" but never put it in a will, the house goes wherever intestacy directs. The same applies to anything the family understood would happen: a parent saying "the savings are for the grandchildren," an uncle promising the cottage to a niece, a long-standing intention to leave money to a charity. None of these survive intestacy unless they appear in a valid will.

This is hard to hear after a death, but it's also why writing a will matters so much for unmarried partners and blended families. The nil-rate band is the same regardless of who inherits, but who inherits is decided by the will, not by intent.

Engagement is treated the same way. If two people were planning to marry but one died before the wedding, the survivor has no automatic intestacy rights, however settled the plans. Only marriage or registered civil partnership creates the spouse-or-civil-partner status that intestacy law recognises.

When there's no traceable family¶

If no relative within the statutory list can be traced, the estate passes to the Crown as bona vacantia. In practice, professional genealogists are sometimes engaged to trace distant relatives before that step, and claims by traced relatives can succeed years later. [source: gov-uk/intestacy-rules-2026-04-29.html]

For most estates, this is a theoretical category rather than a practical one.

Tax doesn't change¶

Inheritance Tax applies the same way to an intestate estate as to one with a will. The £325,000 standard nil-rate band, the residence nil-rate band where applicable, the spouse exemption, and the same forms with HMRC all still apply. The administrator handles the tax return, just as an executor would. [source: gov-uk/inheritance-tax-2026-04-29.html]

Practical sequence: an intestate estate¶

The sequence for the administrator is broadly the same as for an executor with a will, with two differences:

There is no will to find or read; the administrator's authority comes from intestacy law, not from a document.
The application is for Letters of Administration rather than a Grant of Probate, using form PA1A rather than form PA1P.

The order of priority for who can apply for Letters of Administration follows the statutory order: surviving spouse or civil partner first, then children of full age, then parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives. If the person at the top of the order doesn't want to act, they can renounce and the next person in line applies.

Other than that, the timeline, the IHT return, the asset valuation, the bank notifications, and the distribution all follow the same pattern as a probate with a will. → How to apply for probate

If the cohabitant or another dependant intends to make a 1975 Act claim, the administrator should be told as early as possible so the estate is not distributed before the 6-month window expires; once funds are paid out, recovering them becomes much harder. [source: gov-uk/intestacy-rules-2026-04-29.html]

What this guide doesn't cover¶

This page is for England and Wales only. Scotland's rules are substantially different (with "prior rights" and "legal rights" that override much of the order described here), and Northern Ireland's intestacy rules differ on several points. Separate Scottish and Northern Irish guides are planned.

If you're struggling, you don't have to do this alone. Samaritans (116 123, 24/7) | Cruse Bereavement Care (0808 808 1677) | Mind (0300 123 3393)

Next: How to Apply for Probate

Last verified: 29 April 2026 against gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will.