What the intestacy rules do and do not cover
The intestacy rules are a default safety net, not a tailored plan. They distribute assets according to a fixed order of legal relatives. For a traditional nuclear family with modest assets, this often produces a workable outcome. For almost every other family structure, it produces outcomes that the family itself would never have chosen.
Where the absence of planning creates serious problems
Blended families, where one or both partners have children from previous relationships, are particularly exposed. Unmarried couples have no automatic rights at all, regardless of how long they have lived together. Estranged relatives can inherit unintentionally. Larger estates can face inheritance tax bills that proper planning would have reduced or avoided altogether. Business owners can leave their company in legal limbo.
Blended families
Without a Will, a second spouse may inherit assets that you intended to pass to children from your first marriage. The default rules cannot tell the difference between a stepchild and a child you raised. A simple Will, properly drafted, resolves this. Doing nothing does not.
Unmarried couples
Cohabiting partners receive nothing under intestacy. There is no common-law marriage in English law. This catches out an enormous number of families, often at the worst possible moment.
Larger estates
Above the inheritance tax thresholds, doing nothing has a direct financial cost. The current rates mean that 40 per cent of every pound above the allowances goes to HMRC. Even basic planning can reduce that significantly.
When inaction is genuinely fine
If you are married, your assets are below the relevant thresholds, your family is straightforward, and you are happy for the law to distribute your estate according to its default rules, you may genuinely be fine. That outcome is rare but real. A proper review tells you whether you are in that group or not.