Most people assume that if they die without a will, their spouse or civil partner automatically inherits everything. In the UK, that's only true if there are no children — and unmarried partners get nothing at all, no matter how long they've lived together. In the US, the more common problem isn't a wrong assumption about the rules; it's that 56% of Americans currently have zero estate planning documents in place, according to Trust & Will's 2026 Estate Planning Report.
The actual rules — and the mistakes that undo a power of attorney at the exact moment it's needed — are more specific than most people expect, and they've shifted in both countries this year. Here's what's currently true.
UK Intestacy: Why "Spouse Inherits Everything" Isn't the Rule
Under UK intestacy rules, a surviving spouse or civil partner does not automatically inherit the whole estate the moment there are children involved. Instead, they receive a fixed "statutory legacy" of £322,000 (the rate for deaths on or after 26 July 2023) plus all personal belongings, and the remainder of the estate is then split 50/50 between the spouse or civil partner and the children. If there are no children, the spouse or civil partner does inherit everything by default — but if you're an unmarried or cohabiting partner, intestacy rules give you no automatic entitlement whatsoever, regardless of how many years you've been together or whether you share a home.
The 2026 US Estate Planning Gap Is Getting Worse, Not Better
Trust & Will's 2026 Estate Planning Report found that 56% of Americans have no will, trust, medical power of attorney, financial power of attorney, or HIPAA authorization — essentially unchanged from 55% in 2025. What did move is more concerning: will ownership actually fell from 31% to 26% in a single year, while trust ownership rose from 11% to 14%, and Generation X now has the highest unprotected rate of any generation at 62%. Separately, one of the most common and costly drafting mistakes has nothing to do with whether a document exists at all: a power of attorney that doesn't explicitly include "durable" language ends automatically the moment the principal becomes incapacitated — which is precisely the moment it was supposed to start working.
UK Inheritance Tax Thresholds Are Frozen Until 2031 — And That Changes the Math
The Autumn Budget 2025 confirmed that both the standard nil-rate band (£325,000) and the residence nil-rate band (£175,000) will stay frozen until 5 April 2031, alongside the combined £1m allowance for agricultural and business property relief. Because these thresholds don't move while property values and other assets do, more estates get pulled into inheritance tax liability each year purely through that freeze, even though the 40% rate itself hasn't changed. There is a genuinely useful new planning detail alongside the freeze: the unused portion of the £1m agricultural and business property relief allowance can now transfer to a surviving spouse or civil partner on death, which matters directly for farming families and business owners structuring their wills.
The UK Just Modernised How Lasting Powers of Attorney Are Made
The Office of the Public Guardian has been shifting Lasting Powers of Attorney from a paper-heavy process to a digital-first one, with electronic identity verification similar to opening a bank account, digital signature options, and video witnessing permitted in some cases. Digital applications are now targeted to register in 4-6 weeks, against 8-10 weeks for paper applications, and banks and other institutions can verify a registered LPA online instantly using its reference number instead of requiring a paper copy at every branch. If you already have an LPA registered under the old paper-based system, it remains fully valid — none of this requires redoing an LPA you've already put in place.
Your Crypto and Digital Accounts Don't Pass Down the Way You Think
A bank account has a "forgot password" option and a paper trail a bank can follow with a death certificate and a grant of probate. A cryptocurrency wallet does not — if the private keys or seed phrase aren't documented somewhere your executor can actually find, the assets are gone permanently, no matter how clearly your will names a beneficiary for them. Major platforms have built tools for the more ordinary version of this problem — Google's Inactive Account Manager and Apple's Digital Legacy both let you name someone who can access your accounts after you're gone — but none of it works unless you set it up in advance. None of these protections activate automatically just because you have a will.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I'm married with children and die without a will in the UK, does my spouse get everything?
No. Under current UK intestacy rules, your spouse or civil partner receives the first £322,000 (the statutory legacy) plus all personal belongings, then splits whatever is left 50/50 with your children. If there are no children, the spouse or civil partner inherits the whole estate by default — but an unmarried partner has no automatic right to inherit anything under intestacy, regardless of relationship length.
Does a US power of attorney automatically stay valid if I become incapacitated?
Only if the document explicitly includes "durable" language. Without it, a standard power of attorney terminates automatically the moment the principal loses capacity — exactly when it's needed most — which is why estate planning guidance treats the word "durable" as essential rather than optional.
Do I need to redo my UK Lasting Power of Attorney because of the digital modernisation?
No. LPAs registered under the previous paper-based system remain fully valid. The digital-first process with electronic ID checks and faster registration timelines applies to new applications going forward, not to LPAs you've already registered.
Where to Go From Here
Intestacy splits, "durable" wording, frozen inheritance tax thresholds, digital LPA rules, and crypto that can vanish with a lost seed phrase all interact in ways that are easy to get wrong when you're piecing them together from separate government websites. The Complete Wills & Power of Attorney Guide – Premium Edition walks through both the UK and US in plain English, with 35+ worksheets and templates covering wills, financial and healthcare powers of attorney, guardianship planning for children, an asset inventory, and a dedicated digital estate planning chapter for online accounts, subscriptions, and cryptocurrency.
Get The Complete Wills & Power of Attorney Guide →
This article is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Wills, intestacy rules, powers of attorney, and inheritance tax thresholds vary by jurisdiction and change over time — always verify current requirements with HMRC, the Office of the Public Guardian, your state's probate court, or a qualified legal professional before making estate planning decisions.