You will know if you watched the recent Martin Lewis programme on tv, the importance of having a professionally drafted Will.
Having no Will at all is really not an option because Intestacy Law will govern the way in which your estate is distributed which may result in people you need to provide for receiving nothing, and people you wouldn’t want to receive benefit doing just that.
As Martin pointed out, if you are not married and your partner dies you will not receive anything other than assets held jointly as joint tenants. Under these circumstances you would have to bring a claim against the estate to receive any benefit.
If you are married and have children, the surviving spouse will receive jointly owned assets and the first £270,000. Any value over that amount will be divided in half with the surviving spouse receiving one half and any children receiving the other. If the house is owned in the sole name of the one who has died and is worth more than £270k, this could be problematic.
Aside from all of these potential problems, would you not prefer to make coping with your death as easy as possible for those left behind. They will have to deal with your loss so is it fair to expect them to deal with uncertainty and worry about financial issues as well?
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