If you do not leave a will your money and possessions will be distributed according to the intestacy rules laid down in the Administration of Estates Act 1925. If you have no relatives the Crown (the state, in effect) is entitled to take everything.

Many people assume that if you are married or in a civil partnership your spouse or partner will automatically inherit all of your estate when you die. In fact, they will probably inherit only part of it, which may not be what you want.

If you die without having made 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 goes to your spouse or civil partner.
• If you have surviving children, your spouse or civil partner gets the chattels, which are personal belongings and household goods including jewellery, antiques and paintings.  They will also receive the equity in the estate - up to a value of £125,000 and a life interest in half the remainder of the estate. This means that the capital is held for your 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 given to your children immediately, or held for them in a statutory trust until they reach the age of 18 (see below for information on statutory trusts).
• If you have no children or grandchildren but your parents survive you, your surviving spouse or civil partner gets the chattels, the first £200,000 of any savings or property, and half the remainder. Your parents get the other half. If you have no surviving parents, any surviving brothers or sisters will receive their share unless they are under 18, in which case it is held for them in a statutory trust (see below) until they reach that age.

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Under a statutory trust, part of an estate (after the spouse or civil partner has taken his or her fixed share) is held for children or other beneficiaries until the death of the spouse or civil partner. The spouse or civil partner receives the income from the trust for life. These rules do not apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

If you have no surviving spouse or civil partner, your children will share everything. If any of your children have not survived, their own children (your grandchildren) will inherit that share.

If you have no surviving children or other direct descendants (grandchildren, great grandchildren etc.), your estate will be inherited by your other relatives in the following order:

• your parents;
• your brothers and sisters of the whole blood, or their children if your siblings have died;
• your brothers and sisters of the half-blood, or their children if there is no surviving parent;
• your grandparents;
• your uncles and aunts of the whole blood or their children;
• your uncles and aunts of the half blood or their children;
• the Crown.