Title: What happens to a deceased person's money and possessions?
Headings: What happens to a deceased person's money and possessions?
What happens to a deceased person's money and possessions?
Introduction
Money in the bank, insurance policies and savings
Bank accounts in joint names
Credit union accounts
Occupational and personal pensions
The legal right share
Where a legal right share does not apply
Divorce, separation and desertion
Cohabiting partners
Rights of children under a will
The family or shared home
What happens when there is no will?

Content: The legal right share can be lost where the spouse or civil partner is: Convicted of the murder, manslaughter or attempted murder of the deceased  person
Convicted of an offence against the deceased person or a child that  carries a sentence of more than 2 years
Divorce, separation and desertion
Separation agreements usually include a renunciation of both spouses’ or civil partner’s legal right share. If you are divorced or your civil partnership was dissolved, you do not have to provide a legal right share. If your spouse or civil partner deserted you for more than 2 years, they are not entitled to a legal right share unless they deserted you as a result of your behaviour (for example, domestic abuse). Cohabiting partners
Partners, who live with each other but are not married or in a civil partnership, have no automatic legal right to each other's estates, although under the redress scheme for cohabiting couples introduced by the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 a qualified cohabitant can apply for a share of the estate of a deceased cohabitant. You can leave some or all of your estate to your partner but this does not cancel out the legal rights of a spouse or civil partner if you were married before to someone else and did not get divorced or had your civil partnership dissolved. Rights of children under a will
Children do not have any absolute right to inherit any of their parent's estate if the parent has made a will. Children born inside or outside marriage and adopted children all have the same rights and there are no age restrictions. However, a child can apply to court if they feel that they have not been provided for. An application must be made within 6 months of the taking out of a Grant of Representation.