Mr and Mrs S came to our offices to discuss whether there was any need for them to make wills. As a married couple with no children they assumed that following the first of their deaths the other would simply inherit the entire estate absolutely. We explained that the Intestacy Rules apply when someone dies without a will and they were surprised to learn that, as each of their estates would exceed £450,000, this is not what would happen and that parents or siblings would also recieve assets when one of them died. 
We advised Mr and Mrs M, a married couple with two children. They believed that on the first of their deaths, the other would inherit the entire estate absolutely. We explained that in fact, as each of their estates would exceed £250,000, the other one would not inherit the whole estate and might not, as a result, have enough to live on and legal action might have to be brought by the survivor against the children to gain access to the share that would automatically pass to them if there was no will.
We acted for Ms H whose brother, B, was severely disabled. B was in receipt of means-tested state benefits which could be at risk following an outright inheritance. To protect B's entitlement to benefits, we drafted a will for Ms H including a discretionary trust for the benefit of both B and a niece of Ms H. Ms H's trustees were given the power to make payments of income and capital to both beneficiaries, but we drafted a Letter of Wishes for Ms H in which she made clear her intention that the majority of funds should be paid to B.