Another wills one

You or your siblings if there are none surviving then cousins, second cousins passing down the generations of blood relatives to who ever survives him.

What about the half-sister? Would she not be entitled under the rules of intestacy?

Good point Ana I had it in my head she was a step sister but as a half sister she would be a blood relative.

Relying on the rules of intestacy is a huge mistake. Its odd that in this day and age there are people who view wills as a sort of invitation to death. In Victorian times and earlier people held the view that they were somehow tempting fate by sorting out a will which is just plain daft!
However, all I can say is, that from bitter experience anyone with anything to leave...be it a house, a car or just a tea-set they should make a will and store it somewhere official AND let all those involved know where that is......people have been known to 'loose' wills if they have access to the deceased house. Its not just in soap operas that people are devious....such things do happen in real life.

DS and ddil should both make wills.
These are guidelines I follow.
With no Will there would also be the legal cost of having matters sorted, you want to avoid that, at all costs.
Make a Will, leave original with the Solicitor (you don't actually have to use that solicitor when the time comes, you can lift the Will and take it to whomever you want to do the administration.) Keep photocopies of the Will in your home with a note as to where the original is.
If the estate is small it is possible sometimes to follow the Will instructions without a Solicitor.

I looked on the Government intestacy site
www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will and as far as I can see the half sister gets everything.

Yes, unless his parents (the OP and her DH) are still alive.

In which case they would inherit everything.

I assumed they were, but the site has an excellent questionnaire it takes you through to take into account all the various options

Apart from who gets what when there is no will.....or no will can be found....there are real problems about who make some pretty basic decisions. The funeral, the house....who can have keys, who has to make things secure and inform authorities and utilities. There will be cases of 'helpful' neighbours who have had a key to feed the cat etc. helping themselves. No one quite knows what to do about a funeral or how to pay for it. Honestly its a nightmare if things are not neatly sorted and above board.

I wouldn't worry about it, it is his problem to sort out.

Whose child is his half-sister?
It seems sad that he only has one half-sister and they are estranged.

Thanks for all your replies. Will have a look at that gov website

Ana is correct, in this scenario his parents would share his estate, if they predeceased the sibling of the half-blood (very Harry Potter!) would take everything. As I have said in another thread, Solicitors make far more sorting out intestacies and homemade Wills than from having a Will done properly in the first place. Remember the average useful life of a Will is about five years, because something will have happened in most families (births, deaths, marriages, divorces, bankruptcies, inheritances) that means it should be reviewed.
I would think telling him his estranged sister would get everything if he can't be bothered to make a Will should be motivation enough.

Monica, I'm confused. I went through the test 3 times, once for England and Wales, once for Scotland and once for Northern Ireland (I don't know where the OP lives, of course, but those are the only places provided on the site) and in no case did I see where the half-sister would "get everything."

Oh wait, I just saw your other post, where you said you were assuming this would be after the parents were gone. But it might not be, as much as I know the OP might not want to hear that. As painful as it may be, Elizabeth, I think you have to consider all scenarios - if DS (dear son) and DIL, sadly, predecease you and DH, if you and DH (sigh) predecease them and even the half-sister predeceases them, as well.

And you need to check the laws where you live, I believe. While I trust that Ana and Iaincam are correct (and in fact, this is how it is where I live), the test shows that there are some differences from one country to another.

But, hopefully, in time, DS will, in fact, make out wills, after all. Or DIL, who seems interested, will at least do her will, either while he's still living or after.

Roses. if DS dies interstate, I don't think the fact that he is estranged from his half-sister will matter to the courts (I may be wrong though). If he makes out a will, he can, if he wishes, of course, make a point of saying she's not to inherit from him or just leave her out of it. But if he doesn't - well, that's the problem then, isn't it? He forfeits control over where his assets go.

But, once he has died, will he know or care what happens to his assets? The advantage to the will maker is knowing, while you are a live where your assets go when you die.

If, knowing his half-sister will probably inherit his estate when he dies if he hasn't made a will and others he would prefer to inherit will be cut out, he still decides not to make a will that is entirely his choice and his family can only accept it.

Good point, Monica!

Or I should say, "Good point*s*!"

Wendysue makes a good point; I practise law in England and Wales and my advice is only good there, Scotland has a form of forced heirship, as do most Civil Law, Napoleonic Code and Sharia Law countries. Northern Ireland just does it's own thing as usual (still hasn't updated its Mental Capacity Act which E&W did in 2005 and don't get me started on property transactions there).

I have cleared up two intestate estates and my husband was screwed over by a will which got lost by a solicitor.

Fallacy number one, it does not cost much to sort out letters of administration. I did them myself. I didn't need a solicitor.

Fallacy number two , intestacy is worse than a will - not always. Wills can be contested ( too often these days "successfully") so your money may not be distributed according to your wishes.

There is a clear "pecking order" for inheritance, if childless. No one can change that. It always annoys me that so many people want to have a say in someone else's money (my own " family" are the same with my money - I got from a childless aunt).

Fallacy three - we dont all avoid writing wills because we fear it invites death. Some of us do it because we are fed up with the living trying to tell us what to do.

Its your sons money. Let him be is my advice.

Does anyone know where to get a will written at best possible cost please?
My Mother wants to change hers and has asked me to find out best value?