Number of people dying without a will has doubled over the past 5 years

clock • 1 min read

The number of people who have died without making a will has more than doubled in the last five years, according to Citizens Advice.

Dying without a will is known as intestacy - the charity said that the number of intestacy problems it deals with has more than doubled, rising from 1,522 in 2011 to 3,747 in 2015.

Meanwhile life insurer SunLife's data has also revealed that 115,000 people die without a will each year, and this causes problems for those left behind, with 27% of those administering the estate without a will having difficulties.

SunLife research2 shows that 23% do not make a Will before they die and 41% do not make any financial provisions, which causes financial problems for one in six of those families left to pick up the bill.

Of those left to organise a funeral, a staggering 99% do not know all the funeral wishes of the deceased- a third don't even know if the person would have wanted a burial or cremation, the insurer's research said. 

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