If you live in the UK, own property here, or have family ties across borders, planning what happens to your estate is one of the most important things you can do — and one of the easiest to get wrong. UK inheritance law has its own concepts, its own tax rules, and a few traps that catch foreigners in particular.
Whether you are settled in London, working in the UK on a visa, or living abroad with a flat in Manchester, the rules around wills, succession and tax can have a real effect on what your loved ones receive. The law and the figures change over time, so treat this as general background rather than advice on your own situation.
Do expats need a UK will?
If you own assets in the UK — a home, a bank account, investments or a business interest — having a valid will that deals with them is usually the safest way to make sure your wishes are followed and to make life easier for the people you leave behind. A will lets you choose who inherits, appoint the people who will administer your estate, and, where you have children, express your wishes about their care.
You do not need to be a British citizen to make a UK will, and you do not need to be living in the UK. What matters is that the will is valid, that it covers the right assets, and that it works alongside any will you may have made in another country. Without a will, your estate is shared out under fixed legal rules that may not match what you would have chosen.
What makes a will valid in the UK
For a will to be legally valid in England and Wales, it generally must meet some basic formal requirements. Getting these wrong is a common reason wills are challenged or fail, so they are worth understanding before you sign anything:
- The person making the will must be an adult and have the mental capacity to understand what they are doing.
- The will must be in writing.
- It must be signed by the person making it, in the presence of witnesses, who then sign it too.
- The witnesses must be independent — someone who benefits under the will, or their spouse, generally should not witness it.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules that differ in places, so where your assets or your home are located within the UK can matter. A will should also be kept somewhere safe and findable, and reviewed after major life events such as marriage, divorce, the birth of children or buying property — in England and Wales, for example, marriage can revoke an earlier will unless it was made in contemplation of that marriage.
What happens if you die without a will
If you die without a valid will, your estate is distributed under the intestacy rules. These rules set a fixed order of who inherits and how much — typically prioritising a spouse or civil partner and then children, with more distant relatives inheriting only if there are none closer. The outcome often surprises people.
Crucially, an unmarried partner has no automatic right to inherit under the intestacy rules, no matter how long you have been together. Step-children you have not legally adopted are generally not included either. For couples and blended families, this is one of the strongest reasons to make a will rather than rely on the default position. The intestacy rules also differ between the parts of the UK, adding another layer of complication for cross-border families.
Domicile, residence and cross-border estates
For expats, the single most important concept is often domicile. Domicile is not the same as nationality or even where you currently live — it is a legal idea about the country you treat as your permanent home, and it heavily influences how your worldwide estate is treated for UK tax and succession purposes. People who move to the UK, or who keep strong ties to another country, can find their domicile status is genuinely uncertain.
Your connection to the UK can affect whether UK inheritance tax applies only to your UK assets or to your worldwide estate, and how long you have been resident here can also be relevant. Because the rules in this area are technical and have shifted in recent years, your status should be assessed on your specific facts rather than assumed.
Foreign assets and more than one will
Many expats own property or accounts in more than one country, and different countries apply their own succession laws. Some jurisdictions impose forced heirship, reserving fixed shares of an estate for certain family members — a very different approach from the freedom to choose your beneficiaries that exists in England and Wales. These systems can interact in complicated ways.
A common approach is to have a separate will in each country dealing with the assets there, drafted so they work together rather than accidentally revoking one another. Done carelessly, a later foreign will can cancel an earlier UK will and leave part of your estate unintentionally without provision. Where European assets are involved, there may also be choices about which country's law governs succession. These cross-border questions are exactly the kind of thing that benefits from coordinated legal advice in each relevant country.
Probate and administering an estate
After someone dies, the people responsible for dealing with the estate — the executors named in a will, or administrators where there is no will — usually need legal authority to act. In England and Wales this is generally obtained through a grant of probate (or letters of administration where there is no will). The grant allows them to collect in the assets, settle debts and taxes, and distribute what remains.
Administering an estate can be straightforward or lengthy, depending on its size, whether assets sit in more than one country, and whether anyone disputes the will. Executors take on real legal responsibilities and can be personally liable if they get things wrong, so many choose to be guided through the process. Where foreign assets or foreign-domiciled relatives are involved, the process often takes longer and may require steps in more than one jurisdiction.
Inheritance tax and planning
The UK levies inheritance tax on estates above a threshold set by law, with the amount depending on the value of the estate, who inherits, and certain reliefs and allowances. Transfers between spouses or civil partners are often treated favourably, and gifts made during your lifetime can be relevant to the calculation depending on when they were made. The thresholds, rates and reliefs are reviewed and change over time, so always confirm the current figures rather than relying on a number you have seen before.
For expats, the interaction between UK inheritance tax and the tax rules of another country can lead to the same assets being taxed in more than one place, though tax treaties and reliefs sometimes reduce that. Sensible, lawful planning — using available allowances, structuring gifts, and making sure your wills are consistent — can make a significant difference, but it needs to be tailored to your circumstances and kept up to date as the rules evolve.
Getting it right
UK inheritance law gives you real freedom to decide what happens to your estate — but for expats, the details around domicile, foreign assets, multiple wills and tax can be unforgiving, and a small mistake can have lasting consequences for your family. Because so much turns on where you are domiciled, where your assets are, and how your different wills fit together, the safest step when something important is at stake is to speak with a qualified inheritance lawyer in the UK who can review your situation and confirm the current rules before you decide what to do.