Statutory legacy: fixed sum
The government has set a new statutory legacy sum in accordance with the reforms made in the Inheritance and Trustees’ Powers Act 2014.
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The statutory legacy is the sum to which a surviving spouse/civil partner is entitled from the estate when the deceased died intestate (without having made a valid will) with children. Schedule 1 to the Act mandates a period under which a new fixed net sum for statutory legacy should be set. The last statutory legacy rate was set on 11 October 2014 at £250,000.
The new sum of £270,000 took effect from 6 February 2020.
The Inheritance and Trustees’ Powers Act 2014 (The Act) implemented most of the reforms recommended in a Law Commission Report ‘Intestacy and family provision claims on death’ published in 2011. The Act sought to modernise and simplify the law to create a fairer and more comprehensible set of rules governing the distribution of estates of deceased persons and to amend the law relating to the powers of trustees.
Last updated 6 March 2020 + show all updates
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Although the correct figure appears on other guidance pages on GOV.UK, this web page had unfortunately not been updated to reflect the new statutory legacy sum. The web page has now been updated.
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First published.