Belongings and property

A person's belongings and property after their death are their estate, and the estate passes according to their will. If there is no will, the rules of intestacy decide who inherits, starting with a spouse or civil partner and then children.

Someone has to deal with it: the executor named in the will, or, where there is no will, an administrator, usually the closest relative. Larger estates need a grant of probate, or letters of administration where there is no will, before banks and the Land Registry will release anything. Small sums are often paid out on sight of the death certificate.

Personal belongings from a hospital or care home are held for the next of kin and returned to them. Belongings that were with your loved one abroad can travel home with them on a repatriation, and we tell you what can and cannot go in the same consignment.

When probate is not needed

An estate made up only of cash and personal belongings may not need probate. Nor may things owned jointly, such as a joint bank account or a home held as beneficial joint tenants. Until a grant is issued, do not put a property on the market.

The order things are paid

The executor or administrator values everything the person owned and owed. From the estate they pay the funeral, then the debts, and any Inheritance Tax, which applies when the estate is worth more than the tax-free threshold of £325,000 at the time of writing. Only then is the rest shared out among the beneficiaries.

Who inherits without a will

In England and Wales, a partner who was not married or in a civil partnership inherits nothing under the rules of intestacy, and neither do step-children or friends. If there is no relative at all, the estate goes to the Crown.

Read next

Who deals with the estate, and in what order, is in what happens when someone dies without a will and who to notify when someone dies. The things worth settling in advance are in putting your affairs in order.

Related terms: Next of kin and Legal requirements for a funeral. Every term in the funeral glossary.