New intestacy rules for England & Wales have recently been announced, which raise the “statutory legacy” sum to £270,000. The laws of succession have a profound effect on what your loved ones will inherit when you die intestate (i.e. without leaving a valid Will) and it’s important to know that dying without a Will north of the border differs from the rest of the UK. In this article, we will look over the new changes to the intestacy legislation, what happens when you die intestate and automatic entitlement for families.
Recent figures from the National Records of Scotland predict a 23.2 per cent rise in the number of pensioners by 2043. Chief executive of Age Scotland, Brian Sloan, said that while it’s welcome news that we’re living longer, ‘we need to do more to prepare’. A way in which we can do this is by becoming more conscious of safeguarding our affairs, particularly for when we are no longer capable of making decisions for ourselves. 
According to a recent analysis from the Scottish Property Federation (SPF), the total value of 
