If you die and you don’t have a will, this is called an “intestacy” or “dying intestate”.

Without a will to guide what you want to happen with your assets, and who you want to be responsible for making those arrangements, there can be many complications for your family in dealing with your estate, as opposed to what happens when you die with a will.

The basic “order of priority” for distributing an intestate estate is:

1.           Spouse, civil union partner or de facto partner

2.           Children

3.           Parents

4.           Brothers and sisters

5.           Grandparents

6.           Uncles and aunts.

If you own no property and have no financial assets worth more than $15,000, then your closest living relative over the age of 18 (based on the order of priority) would de facto become the administrator of your estate. If they don’t want that job, the next person down the list who does might need to apply to the court to be  be made the administrator.

If you own property that doesn’t automatically pass to a surviving partner, and/or you have financial assets over $15,000, then someone will need to apply for what’s called “Letters of Administration” (usually done with the help of a lawyer). Letters of Administration is the permission of the court to administer the deceased person’s estate – that will usually be the closest living relative over the age of 18, again, based on the order of priority.

Letters of Administration are more work than applying for Probate (what you apply for when the deceased person dies with a will). Consent needs to be granted by certain family members, depending on the exact situation. For example, if someone dies without a spouse, without children, with no surviving parents, but several siblings, one sibling could apply for Letters of Administration, but consent would need to be sought from all of them.

If all siblings didn’t consent, this would create complications and delays that could need to be dealt with by the court.

Dying intestate can make the estate more open to disputes and claims that the deceased person might not have wanted to happen.

For example, if you die intestate and have a surviving spouse from whom you have separated, they could receive from your estate as if you had not separated.

There can, of course, still be disputes, claims, and other complications when dealing with an estate where there is a will. But the easiest way to lessen the risk of any such dispute or claim being successful is to make sure you do have a will.

You should think about what you want to happen with your assets after you die, who you want to be in charge of dealing with your estate, and then seek legal advice to execute a will.

While not necessarily a pleasant thing to think about, having a will can save the people you care about a lot of stress in the long run.