THOUSANDS of adults die every year without making a will, leaving their loved ones in an uncertain financial position.
Changes to the rules next month may help in some cases, but in others they are likely to cause more difficulty.
More than half (57%) of adults have not made a will, according to the advice site unbiased.co.uk. That rises to 78% of those in their thirties.
A worryingly high 1 in 10 people think that their estates will automatically go to the right person. Yet without a will you have no say in how your estate is divided up — and it may not happen the way you would have wanted it.
The intestacy rules — applied to anyone who dies without a will — were established in 1925. There were amendments in the 1970s, but the changes from October 1 will be the biggest in nearly 100 years. They could lead to even greater confusion.
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The way personal belongings are described in legal terms will change. The old-fashioned “chattels” currently refers to objects such as “carriages” and “linen” but will change to mean anything not monetary and not held as business or investment assets.
James Antoniou of Co-operative Legal Services said: “People see investments as different things and where there are collectable items of value in an estate, such as artwork, [it is currently unclear] whether they will pass to the new wife [in the case of a remarriage] as ‘chattels’ or form part of the estate the children from a previous marriage might inherit as an ‘investment’.”
However, this is a relatively minor issue when you consider the full range of changes. For example, said Emma Myers of Saga Legal Services: “Under the new rules, where there are no children, if a spouse dies intestate the surviving spouse or civil partner inherits the whole estate, rather than only £450,000 under the existing rules, with the rest being split between siblings and parents.
“Where there are children involved, the surviving spouse or civil partner will inherit the first £250,000 and then half the remainder of the estate, with the remaining assets being held for the deceased’s children.
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“This has removed the life interest trust, which currently gives the spouse a right to receive only the income from that half share.”
In an attempt to protect children who lose both parents in, say, a car accident, the rules will allow children who are subsequently adopted to inherit from blood relatives.
Under the current rules, adopting a child before the parents’ estate has been dealt with prevents him or her from gaining access to those assets, said Gary Rycroft of solicitors Joseph A Jones.
“It is not going to be retrospective, so adopted children cannot suddenly start making claims against their blood relatives’ estates.” He said that, at this point, someone preparing to adopt should, if possible, wait until after October 1.
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Meanwhile, unmarried couples are still not covered by the rules of intestacy — there is no such thing as a “common law spouse”.
You can avoid all these problems by making a will, which ensures that the people you want to inherit your estate will do so. It costs as little as £150 for a single person, or £200 for a couple, to get the help of a professional, according to Karen Barrett of unbiased.co.uk.
She said: “Procrastination rules for too many, with most believing they should make their will when they are older. Those with wills are often unaware that they can register it, which ensures loved ones will be able to find the will when you are no longer around.”
Registering typically costs £30, but Sunday Times readers can register one free of charge on certainty.co.uk, the national will register, by using the code unbiased2014. The special offer will expire on September 14.
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Nigel McGinnity of Certainty said: “Every day [our service] finds wills that otherwise would have been assumed to be lost, forcing distribution of the estate down an intestacy route.”
Searching for a missing will costs between £40 and £108.