Law change 2013

If there are surviving children, grandchildren or great grandchildren of the person who died and the estate is valued at more than £250,000, the partner will inherit:

•all the personal property and belongings of the person who has died, and
•the first £250,000 of the estate, and
•half of the remaining estate.

So unless you're a very wealthy couple there's no need to worry unnecessarily, although it's always best to make a Will.

This applies if you live in England and Wales - I'm not sure about Scotland and NI.

My husband died at the end of 2014 without having made a Will and I automatically inherited everything.

And remember, everything owned in joint names automatically goes to the survivor and is completely outside the intestacy rules( again as Ana says this is just Englsnd and Wales - can't speak for Scotland and NI)

In this area the average house is £250000 so it would only need a little savings to take you over the limit.
I wasn't aware of this rule. H and I made our wills when our children were teens. So no GC mentioned. This is the kick up the rear I needed to change them.
You can write your own wills without a solicitor, we did. Or ask around in your area.

But having a will is always a good idea?

nina, you'd still inherit the house! See the first clause I posted - the house is classed as property, so you'd get that plus the first £250,000 of any other assets.

It's worth reading this article. You may be surprised at how much a spouse can inherit even where there's no Will - I was. Not so for long-term partners, unfortunately.

www.theguardian.com/money/2014/sep/20/wills-inheritance-changes-intestacy-rules

Ana - I'm not sure about this. If the house is jointly owned, then there is no problem, it goes straight to the survivor and is ignored under the intestacy rules. However if it's owned as tenants in common, then I thought the share that belongs to the person who has died counts towards the £250k intestacy ceiling. So if a half share and house worth £400, 000 and savings left in deceased's name only of £50000, then estate of deceased person would be half the house and all the savings which equals £250000 so survivor gets it all but if house worth £450,000, then estate equals £275000 so survivor could keep house and half of £50000 savings. Amy lawyers here?

Poly the above post Rigby sounds correct to me.

My dh died in 2014 our house was in "Joint names" I did a lot of research and reading. (dh did not leave a will)

I retrieved our Deeds from the bank and had a good read to find out if it was in " joint names or tenants in common" thankfully it was in "joint names" I then applied to the Land Registry to have dh name removed from the deeds ( they don't actually remove it, they send you an official piece of paper to show that any names have been removed)

As dh hadn't made a will and our house was less than £250,000 the house automatically now belongs to me 100.%

If it had been "Tenants in common" its a different story.I believe that the surving spouse inherits 50 % the rest as other posts says goes to surviving children.

So what you perhaps need to do is..find out if its in joint names or tenants in common.

If you have had the house many years it will most likely be joint tenants. We bought our house in 1999.

CAB has lot of info about it.

I think that is right rigby but I think most married couples own their houses as 'joint tenants' as that is how it is normally set up on purchase; you would have to ask specifically for ownership to be 'tenants in common' when purchasing the house. However it is always wise to check!
(which I am going to do right now!)

Yes I was forgetting about 'tenants in common' Rigby, and strangely enough, so did the Guardian article!

Ana am I misunderstanding this. The first £250000 goes to the deceased's widow/widower. Anything more is devided between the survivour and desendants of the deceased.
My comment was in reply to your statement so unless your a very wealthy couple there is no need to worry unnecessarily rereading your second post I now understand that the house is seperate to the £250000 ???
As I say we wrote our wills many years ago.

The house is separate if it's owned jointly - the problem is if it's tenant in common but as Ana says this is unusual - generally if it's tenants in common it's because people are savvy enough to do this to reduce inheritance tax or care home fees so are almost certainly savvy enough to make sure they have wills which is the issue here - if you haven't got a will, you're a prize idiot - get one.

You can always arrange to change your ownership status from joint owners to owners in common. We did that the last time we revised our will.

How to find a good solicitor? The best way to do this is to go to the Find a Solicitor page on the Law Society site and fill in the boxes and that will supply you with the names of suitably qualified solicitors in your area. solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/

What happens if you have no children? Does everything then go to the spouse regardless ? I have no children, thats why I ask.