Intestacy
If you die without making a Will (dying 'intestate'), the law dictates how your estate will be passed on.
The law aims, in the first instance, to protect your immediate family - husband, wife and children. This might be exactly what you had wished, but even if it was, dying without a Will might not result in your possessions (your estate) being used as you had expected or would have wished.
And, it's worth bearing in mind that dependants who are not formally part of your family (for example an unmarried partner) have no automatic right under the intestacy laws.
The intestacy laws assume that all your possessions could be sold by your personal representative to convert your whole estate into cash, which would then be distributed. In practice, most of your assets are likely to be passed on intact according to certain rules.
Your husband or wife is entitled to all your personal chattels (i.e. personal possessions, such as clothes, furniture, your car etc.)
If your estate is valued at £125,000 or less, the remaining spouse also inherits the whole estate irrespective of whether there are any children.
If there are children, the surviving spouse is entitled to £125,000 and the household contents and personal effects of the deceased. The rest of the estate is then divided up into two equal parts - one of which will go to the children. The other half goes into a trust. The income from this legal entity will go to the surviving spouse, but the asset will on the death of the surviving partner become entirely the possession of the children.
The law of Intestacy is laid out in the Administration of Estates Act.