will is a matter of good sense

will help to ensure that your affairs are discharged in the way in which you would hope after your death, and that the difficulties facing your family and other dependants are minimised. With this in mind, however, a very high number of people die every year without having made a will.

When an individual dies intestate, the process by which their affairs must be dealt with is considerably more complex. One of the major benefits of leaving a will is that it permits the writer to nominate an executor, to whom the responsibility for carrying out such tasks as the disbursement of the estate and the arrangement of other things such as guardianship of children will fall.

If there is no will, however, these responsibilities are given to the surviving next of kin by way of a Grant of Letters of Administration; the manner in which this is decided is set out in law. In the first instance this will normally be a surviving spouse or civil partner - but not an unregistered partner or unmarried co-habitee.

If there is no such spouse or partner, of they are not mentally capable of taking on the task, then the responsibilities will be delegated in the following order: children or grandchildren, if over the age of 18; the deceased's parents; other children of the deceased's parents; half brothers or sisters or their descendants; grandparents; brothers and sisters of the deceased's parents ('full blood' aunts and uncles), and finally 'half blood' aunts and uncles. If none of these levels of kinship can be fulfilled, the estate will automatically fall into the control of the Crown.

Many people are also concerned as to who will inherit their estate after their death. Of course, the best way to safeguard your intentions in this field is to making a will, but if this has not happened then the disbursement of the estate will occur in accordance with the laws of intestacy, as set out in the Administration of Estates Act 1925.

Additional Telfon Resources
Teflon - Dupont - Attorney

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