The property assumption
Most people picture a will in terms of houses. The will is the document that says who gets the family home. If you rent, or if your property is in joint names and already covered, the assumption is that a will is less urgent.
That assumption is wrong in a few different ways.
What you own without a house
Savings and current accounts. Investments or ISAs. A car. Personal possessions with sentimental or financial value. Jewellery. Art. Digital assets including cryptocurrency and online accounts. A pension (some pensions let you nominate a beneficiary separately, but others fall into the estate). Money owed to you. Any business interest.
Most people who do not own property still have an estate worth several thousand pounds at minimum. If you have been working for a decade and saving anything at all, it is likely considerably more.
Where it goes without a will
Without a will, the rules of intestacy apply. The distribution depends entirely on your family structure.
If you are single with no children: everything goes to your parents. Your partner gets nothing. Close friends get nothing. The charities you care about get nothing. If both parents are dead, it goes to siblings, then to more distant relatives.
If you are married with no children: your spouse gets everything, which may be what you wanted — but it also means a partner you have separated from, and never divorced, could inherit. Intestacy does not know the difference between a happy marriage and an estranged one.
What a will lets you do
Name exactly who gets what, in whatever proportions you choose. Leave specific items to specific people. Make charitable gifts. Name an executor you trust rather than leaving the court to appoint one. Set out your funeral wishes so your family is not guessing.
The case for doing it now
You do not know when you will buy a house. You might rent indefinitely. Your circumstances may change in ways that make a will more obviously useful — but by then, you might already have a more complicated situation to deal with.
A will made now, while your life is relatively simple, is easy to write and update. Writing one when things are complicated is harder.
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Is your situation complex? Blended family, overseas property, business interests, or trusts? Please find a qualified solicitor. PureWill is for straightforward estates only.