Being married and not having a will can have disastrous consequences for the surviving spouse as depending on the size of the estate, not everything passes to the survivor.
As an example which is a little unusual and would not represent everybody, a rather well known television producer behind quite well known shows died without making a will. His was a second marriage with the house in his name as it was previously owned and valued at £1 million. Other business assets were worth £1.5 million and also, of course, in his name. Total £2.500,000.
Dying without a will is called dying “intestate” and it is written into law how the estate is divided. In this case a wife only receives the first £250,000 of his estate plus a lifetime interest on 50% of the rest with the other 50% going to the children.
This left her in such poor cicumstances that she was unable to maintain the same lifestyle or to keep the home and eventually had to go to court to try to get the matter changed which can be unsuccessful.
Had the husband made a will the entire estate would have passed to her and free of inheritance tax. She could have maintained her lifestyle and standard of living.
