Married without a Will?

If you do not have a Will there are rules for deciding who inherits your assets, depending on your personal circumstances.

If you’re married or in a civil partnership and there are no children then your husband, wife or civil partner won’t automatically get everything.

They will receive:

• Personal items, such as household articles and cars, but nothing used for business purposes
• Up to £450,000 of your estate tax free
• Half of the rest of the estate

The other half of the rest of the estate will be shared by the following:

• Surviving parents
• If there are no surviving parents, any brothers and sisters will get a share or their children if they died.

If you’re married or in a civil partnership and there were children then your husband, wife or civil partner won’t automatically get everything. They will receive:

• Personal items, such as household articles and cars, but nothing used for business purposes
• Up to £250,000 of the estate tax free
• A life interest in half of the rest of the estate

The rest of the estate will be shared by the children.Are you happy with that? If not then it’s time to get a Will in place and to consider some Inheritance tax planning.