what's so bad about dying intestate?

[hatwoman]

assuming you're married, house in joint name, work pensions and life insurance signed over to each other and you don;t both pop your clogs at once, is it really bad not to have a will?

The process of sorting everything out is a lot longer if there is no will.

Also, you may feel it is OK now, but it may not be appropriate when you are older. When you have small children, leaving everything to your spouse makes sense. However, when those children are older, you may want to leave something to them or to your grandchildren.

What about appointing guardians for your children? After all, if you travel in the same car, on the same train, etc., there is a possibility that you could both die together.

Yorkiegirl's experience suggested that it was helpful. It accelerates probate.

Depends on how much you are worth. First £125k will go to dh, but IIRC the rest will get split amongst your kids - not an immediate issue if they are under 18, but you need to think about how they will get the cash when they turn 18 - will dh have to sell up when the eldest turns 18?

But of course there is the issue as to what happens if you both die in an accident. Don't you want to have a say in what happens to your children afterwards?

I know it's a bad idea in general and I agree about the horrible possibility of both going at once. but - seeing as we are still yet to get around to it (the will, that is, not popping our clogs), I was just wondering what the real effects would be.

this is not at all to do with teh fact that dh is going under a general tomorrow. no.

thanks. I shouldn't make light of it.

It may well be an isue even if your kids are under 18: if you are or become a full-time parent as a result of your spouse's death, you may need the money there and hten, and find that you do not have enough now, no matter how well-taken-care-of your dcs will be in a few years' time.

If you leave everything to your spouse no inheritance tax is payable HOWEVER without a will your kids could contest this wish and then you are into the realms of divvying up and paying tax...ho ho what fun for your grieving family - not....go on write a will, it's a fun waste of an afternoon.

I now feel awful about treating this subject lightly: opinions - should I ask for this to be deleted?

Oh no, don't worry. It's fine. We don't care. You didn't suggest murdering DH for the insurance money

It´s not really the same but my BILs brother dies intestate and it made everything even harder for them to deal with at an already very difficult time. He owned his own house but only had dp, they had never married and in fact the rel. was very up and down. It meant the family had to try and decide what he would have wanted without having the slightest idea.

Obviously you´re saying all that aspect is tied up but they even found it hard to know if he would have wanted to be buried or cremated and those are hard decisions to make when you are dealing with grief. It´s really just kinder to your family to make sure everything is tied up how you want it to be and take these kind of decisions out of their hands, also possibly avoiding family conflict.

The joint things go to the joint holder and no IHT if you're married but as said it takes longer to sort out. if you've a lot of assets then it's silly for it all like that to go to the spouse (as it would even if intestate if life policy in trust for spouse, house joint tenants - it's all outside your estate so not in the intestacy rules I think) because you waste the nil rate inheritance band. If you're well below that then that point isn't relevant.

also, you might have pieces of jewelery you might want to go to specific family members or friends...etc, with no will, you have no choice what happens