If aren’t married or in a civil partnership, your partner won’t automatically inherit anything when you die unless you have a will or another legal contract in place
Martin Lewis has urged couples to make sure they have a will in place – and issued key advice on how to get one for free or cheap.
If you don’t have a will, your assets are distributed under the rules of intestacy. There are different rules in place depending where you live – but for people in England and Wales, if you’re married or in a civil partnership, your spouse would automatically inherit the first £322,000 of your estate.
If your estate is worth more than £322,000, then anything above this amount is divided between your spouse and children. The spouse would inherit half of the remaining assets, and then the other half would be divided equally between the children and grandchildren.
The rules are different in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In an urgent warning in the latest broadcast of the Martin Lewis Money Show Live, money-saving expert Martin Lewis spoke of the importance of getting a will in place, as it means “you decide” what happens to your assets.
He said: “If you die will-less, the state decides where your assets are directed, and it depends on which of the UK nations you’re in. In England, for example, if you’re married, the first £322,000 goes to your spouse, after that, it’s divided between your spouse and your children. Now you might have adult children from a previous relationship that you want to protect. They might get nothing if you don’t have a will. Doing a will means you decide.”
The MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) founder issued a further warning to couples who are living together, but aren’t married or in a civil partnership. In the eyes of the law, your partner won’t automatically inherit anything when you die unless you have a will or another legal contract in place.
This means, unless you jointly own a property, your surviving partner may not automatically inherit the home you live in. It all depends on if you own the property as joint tenants, in which case, it would automatically pass to your partner. But if you are tenants in common, your share of the property will be subject to intestacy rules.
In a warning directed to unmarried couples, Martin said: “Wills are so important because you generally have no status in law. The intestacy rules go to a spouse or a civil partner – they don’t go to an unmarried couple. I don’t care if you lived together 20 years and you have 30 kids, it doesn’t matter. You might, depending on the way it’s structured, you might not even get the family home. That’s the general rule.”
Martin explained how if you’re considering getting a will, now is the time to do so. Free Wills Month, which is a scheme where a solicitor will draft your will for free in certain locations, happens every March and October. Your will is done for free, as it is hoped you will leave money to a charity in your will.
The general amount people leave is between £300 and £1,000, or a small percentage of their estate, but you don’t have to leave anything if you don’t want to. There is also Will Aid which runs in November and this runs across the whole of the UK. Again, you’ll be asked to make a charity donation. For a single will, there is a suggested donation of £100, or for a mirror will, the suggested donation is £180.
