Living together with a partner to whom you are not married will not give them an automatic right of entitlement to benefit from your estate, irrespective of the time you have lived together unless you make specific provisions for them in your Will.

a. You risk your surviving spouse or civil partner not receiving everything you own, depending on the size and extent of your estate, unless you make specific provision for them in your Will.

a. If you have children from a previous relationship, such children may not inherit anything from your estate, depending on the size and extent of your estate. In a smaller estate, its likely to all be passed to your current spouse or civil partner and not to your children.

a. If you would like to provide for someone during their lifetime but the capital of it to be held for someone else, then you can only achieve this by making a Will. For example, you want your spouse or civil partner to have a roof over their head in their lifetime but the Capital is preserved for the benefit of your children, after your spouse or civil partner’s death.

a. If you die at the same time as your spouse or civil partner and it is not clear who died first, then it will be assumed the elder of you died first. If neither of you have made a Will, then subject to the size and extent of your estate, it will automatically pass to the younger of you and then distributed amongst their surviving blood family members, unless you have children together who will benefit by survivorship. If the older of you have children from previous relationships or parents or brothers or sisters who are alive, they will not benefit at all in such circumstances.

a. If you die without making a Will, you risk your estate having to pay tax unnecessarily which could be minimised by careful tax planning within a Will.

b. If you own a business and wish this to continue after your death, it is vital you make a Will to make the appropriate arrangements.

a. if you die unmarried and without a Will, your assets will go to your nearer blood relatives and if there are none, then to the Crown, for UK residents. This means there may not be anyone to arrange your funeral or very little left of your estate for distribution after paying the expenses involved in tracing your relatives.

a. You’ll have no control over who makes the arrangements in respect of your funeral and distribution of your Assets. If you make a Will you can choose who you would wish to handle your affairs by appointing them as your Executors and Trustees.

b. Your estate can automatically pass to someone you would not have wanted to benefit from your estate. This can be avoided by making a Will so that you can clearly say what you do not wish to happen to your estate.

a. If you die without making a Will and leave young children under the age of 18, unless appropriate provisions are in place to look after them, you risk the children being looked after by inappropriate adult relatives or subject to the local authority care proceedings. This can be avoided by appointing a Guardian for your children in your Will.

a. If you wish to make specific gifts to friends/relatives or gifts to a charity at the time of your death, this can only be achieved if you make a Will clearly indicating your wishes.