Whilst everyone should make their Will, it is particularly essential for married couples without children to make Wills. The reason for this is that if you have children, the laws of intestacy will take effect and upon the death of a survivor of a married couple, their surviving children will be entitled to share the estate equally.
The situation is somewhat different if there is no Will and there are no children of a marriage. Whilst the surviving spouse will be entitled to the first £450,000.00 (as from 1/2/2009) of their spouses estate, it is effectively a lottery as to how the estate will be divided upon the death of the survivor.
Essentially, the laws of intestacy will dictate how the survivor's estate will be divided and in the event that there are no children, there are strict rules as to who will benefit. The family of the first partner in the marriage will not be entitled to anything whatsoever and the closest surviving relatives of the surviving spouse will benefit.
In some cases, of course, a surviving spouse may not have close relatives such as brothers or sisters and/or nieces and nephews. In these cases, the professional services of genealogists may be required to find family members to benefit from the estate who may never even have known the deceased spouse existed. Furthermore, if no family members at all can be found then the estate will go to the Crown.
Whilst married couples without Wills will obviously ideally wish to benefit each other in the first instance, the making of Wills can both guarantee this whilst also ensuring that relatives, friends and charities of their own choice can benefit from their estate upon the death of the survivor of them. A professionally drawn Will can be arranged with a simple initial appointment.
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