Intestate
For an estate to be intestate, means a person died without a will. In intestate situations, the court appoints an administrator to distribute property. In general, in the U.K., if you die and leave a spouse and children, your assets will be split among them. Your spouse will get everything up to the first £250,000 and all your personal possessions. The remainder will be split with your children. This may mean your spouse receives too little or your children take the property at too young an age (the children will take their share at the age of 18). If there are no children, your spouse gets the first £450,000 and your possessions, and the rest is divided between your spouse and your parents or even your siblings. If you're single with no children, the state is likely to decide who among your blood relatives will inherit your estate. If you live with a partner, your partner will not have any rights under intestacy and will receive nothing. Also, if you die intestate, you are not able to control who will administer your estate when you die. Broadly speaking, the people entitled to your property will also make decisions about your estate and they may not have the necessary skills to do this. If your children are young and you haven't assigned a guardian, normally they will be looked after by the nearest blood relative. You may wish to consult a legal adviser about the laws of intestacy where you live. In the UK, visit HM Revenue and Customs.
In India, if a Hindu male dies without having made a will, his property, under the Hindu Succession Act, will come to his legal heirs. Under the act, there is a provision for the widow, for the children and for the deceased's mother, if alive. In the case of a female who has died intestate, the situation regarding her personal wealth depends on the source of the wealth. Muslims, Christians and Parsis have their own laws.
