You may have asked yourself the following questions:
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Do I need a will?
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Am I too young to make a will?
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What is a good time to make a will?
The answer is often that you should make a will as soon as possible. Of course, it is not something you may necessarily want to do and this is completely understandable, but it may help you make your mind up if you consider what happens if you die without a will.
What happens if you die without a will?
If you die without a will this is known as dying intestate. Where someone dies intestate what happens to their assets upon death is not determined by them but by a set of legal rules called the Rules of Intestacy. Essentially, who inherits from your estate depends on who in your family is still alive.
If you are married with children, the majority of your estate will be left to your spouse, who receives a lump sum (currently £322,000) along with most of your personal possessions (known as chattels). If there is anything left over afterwards, this will be split in two with half going to your spouse and the other half being divided equally between your children. You may think that this sounds fine, but it is worth bearing in mind that there is nothing to stop your spouse then disposing of that inheritance in any way they like, potentially meaning your children end up with very little to nothing.
When minors are involved, you can also be left with part of the estate going to minor children under a statutory trust, where they are not of sufficient age to vary this to make things simpler. You may also find large assets, like property or businesses, being split into odd beneficial shares between spouses and children, which can cause issues. Therefore, even if you think that the ultimate beneficiaries under the Rules of Intestacy would not be problematic, there are still issues in having no control as to who receives what proportion of an estate.
Things get even more problematic where there are unmarried couples, estranged members of the family or simply family members you wish to prefer over others for whatever reason. Here there is no control if you die intestate and, for example, an unmarried partner may receive nothing or a child that has been estranged for years will receive equal amounts as a child that has been around and cared for you.
Consider the example below.
Maria is 38 years old. She married her husband Mark when she was 23 and they split up, without divorcing, when she was 33. For the last 5 years she has been living with her new partner Adam in her house and he has been there for her helping her look after her two children.
Maria has thought about making a will but decided that she is much too young and doesn’t need one. Her life is extremely busy, and another 10 years go by without her having made a will. Her family situation remains the same, but her eldest child has now moved back in with Mark and no longer speaks to Maria.
Maria sadly dies from illness aged 52 and has not made a will. As a result of not making a will, Mark inherits the majority of Maria’s assets and the little remaining cash in the estate is split evenly between her two children. Mark is now threatening to kick Adam out of the house as it has passed to him under the Rules of Intestacy. Maria’s younger son is very upset as him and Adam have a father and son type relationship and Maria would not have wanted Mark and her eldest son to inherit.
Conclusion
Whilst it may not seem as though making a will right now is a particularly pressing matter, remember there is no right age to make a will and if you have family members, relationships or friends that depend on you it may be worth making a will now for peace of mind. Just because you make a will now, it doesn’t mean that you cannot change it later in life, it just means that your estate will be distributed in accordance with your current intentions and you are protected from it passing to those that you do not want to benefit.
