The Problem of Intestacy.
This is the story of a man with no wife or children who did not make a Will.
Because he had no Will, his estate did not go to his friends and neighbours. It did not go to any of his favourite charities. His estate went to his second cousins, most of whom he had never met.
16 of his second cousins were from his mother’s side of the family. A tracing agency had to be instructed to find relatives on his father’s side of the family. Some of these were based in the UK, but the majority were based overseas, notably in Hong Kong and Barbados. Information was slow to come out of Hong Kong and extremely difficult to trace in Barbados. The tracing of his overseas relatives took 2 years to complete. A further 6 beneficiaries were traced, meaning his estate had to then be divided 20 ways.
In the meantime, two of his second cousins died, so further complicating matters. Only one of them had made a Will. For the one who did not have a Will, further checks had to be made to verify his own beneficiaries.
The Inheritance Tax bill on the estate was eye-wateringly big.
The administration of most estates takes 18 months. It took 5 years to administer this estate. The costs of the administration were far larger than they had to be as 20 beneficiaries had to be traced, contacted, updated on a regular basis, and, eventually, paid.
None of this was what the man would have wanted and could have all been avoided by making a Will.
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