Changes to the rights of people whose spouses or civil partners die without making a will have come into force.
For married couples with no children, the surviving partner will now inherit their spouse's entire estate, rather than £450,000 then half of the rest. For those with children, the surviving spouse will get the first £250,000 as before, but they will now get half of the remainder - rather than just interest on that amount. The changes apply in England and Wales. BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman said the law governing inheritance when one spouse dies without making a will had "changed little in the last century". He said the changes were designed to make the system fairer and address concerns that is has been "difficult for those who deserve an inheritance to get one".....Read more here