Probate · 6 min read · 27 August 2026
Dying without a will: who inherits under the intestacy rules
Written by Simon D Campbell, Director, Shropshire Expert Cleaners LTD · 17 years in bereavement, trauma and hospital-standard cleaning
The short answer
If there is no valid will in England and Wales, the intestacy rules decide who inherits. A spouse or civil partner inherits first; otherwise the estate passes to children, then parents, then siblings and wider family. An unmarried partner inherits nothing automatically.
If there is no valid will, the estate is divided by law rather than by intention. In England and Wales those rules sit in the Administration of Estates Act 1925, as amended in 2014.
If there is a spouse or civil partner
Where there are no children or grandchildren, the surviving spouse or civil partner inherits everything. Where there are children, HMRC's guidance sets out that the spouse or civil partner receives the personal possessions, a statutory legacy of the first £322,000, and half of what remains. The other half is shared equally between the children.
If there is no spouse or civil partner
The estate passes down a fixed order: children, then parents, then brothers and sisters, then half-siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Only if nobody in that list survives does the estate pass to the Crown.
Unmarried partners
A partner you lived with but were not married to or in a civil partnership with inherits nothing under intestacy, however long you were together. There is a separate court claim available under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, but it is a legal process with time limits — take advice quickly rather than assuming it will resolve itself.
What to do next
Search thoroughly for a will before assuming there is none: the solicitor who did the conveyancing, the bank, a safe or filing box, and the National Will Register are the usual places. If there genuinely is no will, the person entitled under the rules applies for letters of administration rather than a grant of probate.
Where the family situation is blended, disputed, or includes stepchildren who are not legally adopted, this is the point to speak to a solicitor rather than press on.