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When someone dies without a will, without a surviving spouse, and without children or grandchildren, their parents become their next of kin and inherit the entire estate. This applies whether the deceased was young or middle-aged, and regardless of whether the parents had a close or distant relationship with the deceased. That is the position in England and Wales, which this guide describes, and broadly in Northern Ireland; Scotland divides the estate between parents and siblings, and is dealt with at the end.
Under the Administration of Estates Act 1925, the intestacy priority order is:
Both parents inherit equally if both are alive. If only one parent survives, they receive the entire estate. If both parents have already died, the estate passes to siblings (whole blood siblings first, then half-blood siblings if no whole-blood siblings exist).
Scotland works differently. Section 2 of the Succession (Scotland) Act 1964 puts parents and siblings on the same rung: where the deceased leaves a surviving parent and also brothers or sisters, the parent or parents take one half of the free estate and the brothers and sisters take the other half. Parents take the whole free estate only where no brother or sister survives. That is on top of the separate Scottish prior rights and legal rights, which come first.
Step-parents do not inherit under intestacy — only biological and legally adoptive parents do. If a person was adopted, their adoptive parents (not their biological parents) are their legal parents for the purposes of intestacy.
For the full intestacy overview, see our main intestacy guide.
One of the most distressing outcomes of the parents-as-next-of-kin scenario is where the deceased had an unmarried long-term partner. The parents — perhaps people the partner has never met — inherit everything while the partner receives nothing.
This outcome is especially painful when:
A cohabiting partner who lived with the deceased as a married couple or civil partners for the whole of the two years before the death may bring a claim under the Inheritance Act 1975. Someone who does not meet that but was being maintained by the deceased may apply on that separate footing. Either way the application must normally be made within six months of the grant, and what the court awards is reasonable provision for maintenance, not a share of the estate. See our guide on dying without a will as an unmarried partner.
The parents (if aged 18 or over) have the right to apply for letters of administration. Both can apply jointly. One can also apply alone: rule 27 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 provides that a grant may be made to any person entitled to it without notice to other people entitled in the same degree, so the other parent's consent is not required.
The application will require evidence that the higher-priority relatives (spouse, children) do not exist. The parents should have the death certificate and ideally documentation confirming their relationship to the deceased.
See our guide to applying for letters of administration and our complete UK probate guide.
If the deceased owned their home alone, it forms part of the estate and passes to the parents. If jointly owned with an unmarried partner as joint tenants, it passes by survivorship to the partner — outside the estate entirely. If jointly owned as tenants in common, only the deceased's share forms part of the estate.
The parents may have no emotional connection to the family home. They may wish to sell it promptly. This can create significant distress for an unmarried partner who was living there, particularly if they have no independent legal protection.
Joint bank accounts pass by survivorship to the surviving joint account holder — this could be an unmarried partner if accounts were held jointly. Only solely held assets pass under intestacy to the parents.
Life insurance policies written in trust pass to named beneficiaries outside the estate. Pension death benefits are discretionary.
There is no inheritance tax exemption for transfers between parents and children (except the nil-rate band). If the estate exceeds £325,000, inheritance tax at 40% will be payable on the excess.
The residence nil-rate band does not apply — it only applies where the property passes to direct descendants (children, grandchildren). Parents are not direct descendants. See our inheritance tax guide for 2026–27.
For anyone who is unmarried and has no children, the intestacy rules send the estate to their parents. Nothing short of a will changes that — not the length of a relationship, not estrangement from the parents, not what everyone involved knows the deceased would have wanted.
A will can leave the estate to an unmarried partner, to friends, to charities, or to whoever the person wishes. Without a will, the parents inherit regardless.
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