Where there are children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren, the surviving spouse or civil partner is entitled to:
• All of the deceased’s personal chattels, often known as “personal effects” – this includes things like their car, house contents (but not the house itself), garden furniture, pets, jewellery
• The first £250,000 plus half of the remainder of the estate
The children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren take the other half of the remainder of the estate.
As an example, let’s look at a situation where the estate is worth £300,000 and the deceased leaves a surviving spouse and four children. Here, the surviving spouse will take the first £250,000 and the remainder of the estate (£50,000) will be split into two halves, one half for the spouse and the other half for the children. In this example, the spouse, therefore, receives £275,000 (ie. £250,000 plus £25,000 from the remainder) and the children share the other £25,000. If any child dies before the deceased person, then their children will inherit the share that they would otherwise have received.
As the spouse or civil partner is entitled to the first £250,000 in the estate, it follows that he or she will inherit everything if the overall value of the estate does not exceed £250,000.
