Editing Intestacy (section)

===United Kingdom===
====England and Wales====

The rules of succession are the Intestacy Rules set out in the [[Administration of Estates Act 1925]] ([[15 & 16 Geo. 5]]. c. 23) and associated legislation. 

For deaths after 1 October 2014, the rules where someone dies intestate leaving a spouse or civil partner are as follows:
* if there are no issue (i.e. children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren etc.) then the spouse or civil partner inherits the entire estate; or
* if there are issue, the spouse or civil partner receives the [[Personal property#Tangible|personal chattels]] and the first £322,000, then half of everything else passing under the intestacy rules.<ref>{{cite web |title=Who can inherit if there is no will – the rules of intestacy |url=https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/death-and-wills/who-can-inherit-if-there-is-no-will-the-rules-of-intestacy/ |website=Citizens Advice |access-date=4 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref> The other half passes to the issue on the statutory trusts (see below).

Where there is no spouse or civil partner, the assets pass in the following order of priority, such that no-one is entitled in any lower category if there is a living person entitled in a higher one: 
* issue, on the statutory trusts (see below);
* parents;
* full-blood brothers and sisters, on the statutory trusts;
* half-blood brothers and sisters, on the statutory trusts;
* grandparents;
* full-blood uncles and aunts, or any living descendants of deceased aunts or uncles (such as cousins), on the statutory trusts; or
* half-blood uncles and aunts, or any living descendants of deceased half-aunts or half-uncles (such as half-cousins), on the statutory trusts.

In the above "the statutory trusts" mean:
* that a person who would be entitled if they were adult does not become entitled until they attain 18; and
* where a person who would have been entitled has predeceased the intestate, but has left issue, those issue who survive the intestate share, "[[per stirpes]]", their ancestor's share.

Where no beneficiaries on the above list exist, the person's estate generally [[escheat]]s (i.e. is legally assigned) to [[the Crown]] (via the [[Bona vacantia]] division of the [[Treasury Solicitor]]) or to the [[Duchy of Cornwall]] or [[Duchy of Lancaster]] when the deceased was a resident of either. In limited cases a discretionary distribution might be made by one of these bodies to persons who would otherwise be without entitlement under strict application of the rules of inheritance.<ref>{{cite web|title=Guide to Discretionary Grants in Estates Cases|url=http://www.bonavacantia.gov.uk/output/Discretionary-Grants-in-Estates-Cases.aspx|website=The Treasury Solicitor, Bona Vacantia Division|publisher=The National Archives|access-date=6 September 2017|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20091003153017/http://www.bonavacantia.gov.uk/output/Discretionary-Grants-in-Estates-Cases.aspx|archive-date=3 October 2009}}</ref>

These rules have been supplemented by the discretionary power of the court contained in the [[Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975]] so that fair provision can be made for a dependent spouse or other relative where the strict divisions set down in the intestacy rules would produce an unfair result, for example by providing additional support for a dependent minor or disabled child vis-a-vis an adult child who has a career and no longer depends on their parent.

====Scotland====
The law on intestacy in [[Scotland]] broadly follows that of England and Wales with some variations. A notable difference is that all possible (blood) relatives can qualify for benefit (i.e. they are not limited to grandparents or their descendants). Once a class is 'exhausted', succession continues to the next line of ascendants, followed by siblings, and so on. In a complete absence of relatives of the whole or half-blood, the estate passes to the Crown (as ''[[ultimus haeres]]''). The Crown has a discretion to benefit people unrelated to the intestate, e.g. those with moral claims on the estate.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Gorham|first1=John|title=A Comparison of the English and Scottish Rules of Intestacy|url=http://www.trustees.org.uk/review-index/Intestacy-A-comparison-of-the-English-and-Scottish-rules-of-intestacy.php|website=The Association of Corporate Trustees|access-date=6 September 2017|date=8 July 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320011000/http://www.trustees.org.uk/review-index/Intestacy-A-comparison-of-the-English-and-Scottish-rules-of-intestacy.php|archive-date=20 March 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>