A will doesn't always do the whole job. Sometimes it disposes of part of an estate effectively but leaves a portion hanging — a gift fails, a residuary clause comes up short, or the drafting simply doesn't reach everything. When that happens, the leftover passes under the intestacy rules while the valid gifts stand. As a solicitor administering an estate, you need to recognise this hybrid situation, explain to the family what they will actually receive, and distribute the estate correctly down to the figures.
This lesson builds your understanding step by step, from why partial intestacy arises to how the undisposed portion is shared out.
- The Concept and Its Causes — what partial intestacy is, which part of the estate the intestacy rules pick up, and why it happens.
- Failed Gifts — how lapse, disclaimer, and ademption cause gifts to fail, and when a failed gift ends up in intestacy.
- Anti-Lapse: Section 33 Wills Act 1837 — the rule that rescues certain gifts by redirecting them to a deceased beneficiary's descendants.
- Distribution of the Intestate Portion — how the undisposed portion devolves, and what a surviving spouse and issue each take.
- Statutory Trusts for Issue — how the share is held and divided per stirpes, and the contingency issue must satisfy to inherit.