No dependents, do I need a will?

corblimey

When I bought my house in 2004, my solicitor offered to write me a will at the same time. That was done, and since I had no dependents at the time, my parents were the beneficiaries. They have since passed on, so my will would be considered invalid now.

However, if I understand the Citizens Information website about this, without a proper will, my estate will go to:

• Brothers and sisters only: your estate is shared equally among them, with the children of a deceased brother or sister taking his/her share.
• Nieces and nephews only: your estate is divided equally among those surviving.

Since that would my plan anyway, even distribution across all relatives, do I need to bother even putting together a will?

seamus

Having a will makes the process of distributing your estate simpler, you will have appointed an executor (or two), and you can have discussed this with them beforehand. It just means a little less red tape and decisions for your family in the event that the worst happens. It also means that if you have any specific wishes - e.g. if you had a special needs family member that was to be given your home to live in - then that can be codified in the will rather than hoping that the rest of your family will remember that's what you want.

It also in theory "protects" your wishes. So while the default legal distribution of your assets is what you currently want, in the event that they changed the law and you had no will, then your estate would be distributed differently. Unlikely, but still possible.

Ken.

It would be best to have one. Imagine if you will you have a collection of old records you want to go to someone in particular. With a will you can specify that. Without one they'd probably be sold and the money divided equally among everyone.

corblimey

Yeah, I have no specific items to go to specific people, just sell everything and divide the proceeds between 3 and 30 people as the law intends. However...

seamus wrote: »

It also in theory "protects" your wishes. So while the default legal distribution of your assets is what you currently want, in the event that they changed the law and you had no will, then your estate would be distributed differently. Unlikely, but still possible.

This is a good point. No harm in laying it out specifically so.

coylemj

corblimey wrote: »

Since that would my plan anyway, even distribution across all relatives, do I need to bother even putting together a will?

The distribution won't necessarily be as even as you think, especially if you have siblings with a variable number of children.

Let's assume that you have three siblings - Ann, Brian and Catherine. Ann has one child, Brian has two children and Catherine has 4 children.

If you die intestate (and you effectively have no will at present) with at least one sibling living, your estate will be divided in three, any surviving sibling will get their one-third, their children will get nothing and the children of any deceased sibling will share their parent's one-third. This distribution is known as per stirpes and is how your estate will be divided up if you die without making a new will and at least one of your siblings survives you.

So if Ann predeceased you but at least one other sibling survived you, Ann's only child would get one-third of your estate. Similarly, if Brian died before you, his two children would each get one-sixth of your estate (one-third split two ways) and if she died before you, Catherine's children would get one-twelfth of the estate each - their mother's one-third split four ways.

However if all of your siblings predecease you, the rule changes such that all of your nieces and nephews get an equal share which would be 1/7 of your estate each - per stirpes only applies if you there is at least one surviving sibling.

So depending on the timing, your individual nieces and nephews could get between 1/3 and 1/12 of your estate - hardly the 'even distribution' you anticipated! Making a will removes this uncertainty.

Addle

Do revenue not get a bigger cut if you don't have a will?

coylemj

Addle wrote: »

Do revenue not get a bigger cut if you don't have a will?

No.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

MouseTail

Fred Swanson wrote: »

How do I know that my will would be respected?

You choose your Executor with great care.

nuckeythompson

Make a will as they will fight like cats and dogs when you're gone. Circumstances change and so will the will. As the above post states choose the executor with caution. It's also a difficult position for them to be in