If there is no validlast will,

Any person who dies without executing (making) a valid last will is known as Dying Intestate and in that event the deceased’s estate is distributed according to the Law on Intestacy. The application itself is for Letters of Administration, not a Grant of Probate.

The laws of intestacy govern who becomes the administrator and who the beneficiaries are. This is not ideal. Disputes arise when relations will not benefit at all, or when they feel the inheritance is an insufficient amount.

Relatives are placed in a strict order: married partner or civil partner, children, parents, siblings, half-siblings, grandparents, aunts or uncles, then the Crown. A common-law partner has no automatic right to inherit. If there is a spouse and children, the spouse receives the statutory legacy and half of the remainder — not necessarily the whole estate.

A Deed of Variation may be all that is required to distribute an estate in a different way, providing everyone affected agrees. Fill in our Online Probate Application and we will review the family tree, then come back with a fixed fee for the intestacy work.