A question about wills (or lack of)

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Hi

My sister's husband received the devastating news a few days ago that he has advanced cancer and is now under palliative care.

As you can imagine they are both absolutely stunned and my BIL has gone into a deep depression where right now, he is blocking everything and everyone out while he processes the news.

They always meant to make a mirror will but never got around to it, and right now as much as my BIL knows this needs to be done, he won't let my sister get a solicitor to come to the house just yet.

As much as a will is always important (and hopefully they'll make one soon), my sister would like to know whether if he died before making one, she would be 'covered' because:

My BIL only has one bank account with £10 in it. All of their life savings are in an account held in my sister's sole name, so would any of that make up part of his estate?

The mortgage is in both of their names, so would his half automatically transfer to her without being included as his estate? They do have life insurance attached to the mortgage.

The only other thing is his work death in service benefit which he nominated her to receive and as far as we are aware, this won't be considered part of his estate.

So are we right in thinking that he actually has no estate to speak of?

Thanks for reading and sorry it's long.

I am not a solicitor, but to keep this bumped from what I can see actually she would be fine on a practical level when it comes to sorting things out assuming the house is joint tenants and given she has the bank account in her sole name. Does he have a pension that will pay out if he dies before reaching pensionable age?

How is the house held - joint tenants or tenants in common? If the latter then his share of the house will form part of his estate. If the former then I agree with you, but I’m not a lawyer.

What awful news though

If they are married then she can inherit everything. There is some paperwork but should be ok

Thank you all for your replies.

She said they are joint tenants and his death in service benefit includes a weekly 'widow's pension' payment.

Are you in Scotland/NI/Wales/England? This really matters, or you could get the wrong advice.

If in Scotland, any children can claim one third of his moveable estate (split between them) even if the will says otherwise. If no will, intestacy rules apply and estate will be divided accordingly.

Whichever country you're in, the priority for me would be making sure any pensions he has will pay out a lump sum to her if he dies before retirement age, or pay her an actual pension if he's post retirement.

They're in England.

Yes, she has said his company pension will pay out as she is the nominated person.

I am very sorry for your BIL and sister.

Can I strongly recommend you watch this week's Martin Lewis Money Show back on itvx? He covered all of this in great detail and is very clear. Yes, your sister will likely be covered but the process is so much more difficult and stressful with no will at what is already a hideous time.

Thank goodness they are married, basically.

Your poor BIL. What a nightmare 💐

If they are married and there is no will, assuming they live in England, anything he has will go straight to her under a certain amount. https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will
Some death in service benefits will pay out if the person is terminally ill and expected to die within a year meaning if they need money now they can access it. His employer should have this information. If they have dependent children there are other benefits she can apply for after he has died.
https://www.turn2us.org.uk/get-support/information-for-your-situation/bereaved

My BIL only has one bank account with £10 in it. All of their life savings are in an account held in my sister's sole name, so would any of that make up part of his estate?

The bank account would be part of his estate. Their life savings would not.

The mortgage is in both of their names, so would his half automatically transfer to her without being included as his estate? They do have life insurance attached to the mortgage.

If they are joint tenants as you say in your later post, the house will automatically become hers when he dies and will not form part of his estate. The life insurance will also not be part of his estate. However, if they own it as tenants in common, 50% of the house will fall into his estate.

The only other thing is his work death in service benefit which he nominated her to receive and as far as we are aware, this won't be considered part of his estate.

Correct, this is not part of his estate.

On the information you've given, he will be leaving next to nothing. If this is wrong and he does have a significant estate (e.g. the house is owned as tenants in common), your sister may still be ok. As they are in England, if he dies intestate she will inherit his entire estate if there are no children. If he has any children, she will get his personal property along with the first £322k and half of anything over that amount, with the rest going to his children.

From the sounds of it, the lack of a will won't cause any problems for your sister.

If there's a will, things will be more straightforward/quicker for her, but she'll be fine.

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to reply and for your sympathetic messages.

I've read them to my sister over the phone and whilst she's hoping there'll still be time to make a will, she's feeling much more reassured by you all 💐

There is absolutely no need at all for a Will in this situation. Your friend will inherit the whole of his estate, such as it is, though from what you've said it would only seem to consist of a few quid in the bank (which the bank will happily release to his widow without any formalities) and his personal belongings.

Even if he owned any significant assets the formalities are much the same with or without a Will. If there was a Will then (assuming, as is usual, that she was named as executor) she would apply for a Grant of Probate. Where there's no Will she would be entitled as his next of kin to apply for Letters of Administration. The process is almost identical.

So involving a solicitor would be completely pointless and an unnecessary distraction and expense.