New intestacy rules, which apply when individuals die without a valid will and govern the distribution of assets, will come into force from 1 October, it has been announced.
The Law Commission suggested a number of changes to the intestacy rules back in 2011 because the existing rules were seen as outdated.
For example, surviving spouses, where there were no children, only received a fixed legacy (£450,000) plus half the estate.
The balance was given to other family members, such as parents or siblings.
Under the new rules, the surviving spouse will now receive the full estate and other changes include a change to the definition to “chattels”, which may impact some existing wills which refer to this definition.
However, Gary Heynes, national head of private client at Baker Tilly, said other recommendations have not been dealt with and there is no provision for co-habitees or “common-law spouses” to benefit, meaning that they will only benefit under the provisions of a valid will.
He said: “It continues to remain true that wills need to be in place to avoid intestacy rules being invoked and, once in place, they need to be reviewed regularly both to ensure that it continues to meet the testator’s wishes and is up to date given changes in tax law.
“As we have seen recently, inheritance tax rules continue to pull more estates into the charge to tax from the changes on the use of trusts, the deductibility of debts to reduce the value of the taxable estate and the fiscal drag of the frozen nil rate band.
“Now is a good time to review those wills and inheritance tax arrangements.”
