The rules of intestacy decide who gets what, and they take no account of your intentions. An unmarried partner typically receives nothing, however long the relationship, and neither do step-children you never formally adopted.
Intestacy follows a fixed order of relatives. It has no way of knowing who depended on you, who you had fallen out with, or who you had quietly been supporting for twenty years.
The rules differ between England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the statutory legacy figure changes from time to time.
A will decides who gets what. It appoints the executors who sort everything out and the guardians who would raise your children. It can also put a share in trust, which matters most on a second marriage, where children from the first one can otherwise end up with nothing.
What it does not cover is the money that passes outside your estate, and for most people that is the larger half of the picture.
In England and Wales, getting married generally cancels an existing will unless it was made in contemplation of that marriage. Divorce does not cancel it, but it usually removes the former spouse as a beneficiary and executor.
Wills, trusts and probate are provided by qualified legal professionals rather than by Buzz Financial Services. The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate will writing, trusts or some forms of estate planning.
You can, and a badly executed homemade will is one of the most common causes of contested probate. The failures are mechanical: improper witnessing, ambiguous wording, gifts of things since sold, executors who have died. None of them surface until it is too late to ask you.
After a marriage, a divorce, a birth, a death among your beneficiaries or executors, a significant change in assets, or a house move. A quick review every five years is sensible even when nothing obvious has changed.
Not by itself, but it is where the planning is executed — leaving a share to a spouse, using the residence nil rate band by passing a home to direct descendants, or putting a trust in place. Without a will, none of those choices are yours.
Different document, different job, and arguably more urgent. A will takes effect when you die; an LPA covers what happens if you cannot make decisions while alive. You can only make one while you still have capacity, and without it your family must apply to the Court.
We handle the financial side — the nominations, the policies in trust, the inheritance tax position — and work alongside your solicitor so the documents and the plan say the same thing.
What your estate would pay as things stand, and which bands you can use.
Tell us what is on your mind: a pension you have lost track of, a fixed rate ending, a will you keep meaning to write. We will tell you honestly whether we can help.