If you are not married or in a civil partnership and you do not make a will then the answer is no. However, assets held in joint names and property held as joint tenants with your partner will pass automatically to them on your death.

If you want to choose someone to make decisions on your health and welfare when you cannot, then yes. That way, you can pick someone you trust and explain to them any preferences you have so that if the day comes when you cannot make those decisions yourself, they have the legal authority to do so on your behalf.

Yes, there's a registration fee charged by the Office of the Public Guardian of £82 per document. However, some individuals might qualify for a fee reduction or exemption based on their financial situation.

General
You (the donor) make a GPA and nominate attorneys to act for you but it ends if you lose capacity or revoke it. This can only be for property and financial affairs.

Enduring
Pre-October 2007, you made an EPA to nominate attorneys to act for you if you lost capacity. This could only be for property and financial affairs. It must be registered at the OPG to be used but can only be registered once the donor loses capacity.

Lasting
Since then, you can make an LPA to nominate attorneys to act for you. This can be for property and financial affairs or for health and welfare. It must be registered at the OPG to be used. The financial LPA can be used as soon as it is registered, the health LPA can only be used if the door has lost capacity.

If the value of the estate is over £5,000 then the application fee for a Grant of Representation is £300. If the value of the estate is less than £5,000 then there is no fee to apply for probate.

If you cannot find the deceased’s will amongst their possessions then you should try contacting:

The deceased’s solicitor. If you are unaware of who the deceased’s solicitor was then you may want to consider contacting solicitors local to the deceased in case they have it.
The deceased’s bank (some people store important documents with their banks).
A will search company.
London Principal Probate Registry If a will is not located then it is assumed that the deceased did not have a will when they died.

An application to the Probate Registry for a Grant of Letters of Administration will need to be made by the next of kin of the deceased.

A Health and Welfare LPA is a legal document that allows you to appoint someone you trust to make decisions about your health and personal welfare if you're unable to do so yourself.

LPAs can be cancelled or changed as long as you have the mental capacity to make that decision. It's essential to inform the Office of the Public Guardian and all relevant parties about any changes.

No. Your family will have no access to your bank accounts and cannot sell your property unless they make an application to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order, which is a costly and lengthy process.

If you do not make a will then the intestacy rules apply on your death. These rules contain a pecking order of who can inherit based on your family situation. This can mean that those who you wish to benefit from your estate could lose out and it could cause considerable hardship to them.

It is a document that amends, but does not replace, an existing will. It can add or remove a clause or clauses in the original will.

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document which allows a person (the donor) to appoint someone or more than one person they trust (attorneys) to make decisions for them when they no longer have the mental capacity to make the decisions themselves. An LPA has to be made while the donor still has the mental capacity to give their consent to it.

A life interest trust will includes a trust which comes into being when the testator (the person whose will it is) dies by putting something (usually a share in a property) in trust for the ‘life tenant’ (usually their partner). The life tenant can benefit from it during their lifetime without legally owning it but the settlor leaves it to the ‘ultimate beneficiary’ (usually their children) in the end and names people to manage the trust (the ‘trustees’, who are usually the same people as the executors of the will).

A will is an important legal document which governs the distribution of your estate (which is everything that you own) upon your death. If you die without making a will, you are ‘intestate’ and the law will determine who inherits your estate. It is important to seek professional legal advice when writing a will to ensure it complies with all legal requirements and can be executed with ease.

Many people believe that everything they own will automatically go to their spouse but this is not always the case. A properly drafted will sets out your wishes clearly and unambiguously

It can also deal with other matters, such as appointing guardians for any of your children under the age of 18. For clients with more valuable estates, having the correct will in place could save many thousands of pounds of inheritance tax.

If a person who died did not have a will then the person who is granted Letters of Administration is called the administrator. This is a similar role to an executor of a will.

An attorney is someone who acts on behalf of another person. You can choose your attorneys. The attorney may be a member of your family, a friend or a professional person, like a solicitor or accountant.

An executor is a person named in a will who sorts out the estate of the person who has died.

Probate is the word normally used to describe the process of dealing with the estate of a person who has died. In general, there are two different types of grants:

Probate - applied for if the person who died had a valid will
Letters of Administration - applied for if the person who died did not have a valid will

If the deceased did not have a will then the next of kin may have to apply for a Grant of Letters of Administration before they can deal with the estate.

If the deceased had a will then the executors may have to apply for a Grant of Probate before they can deal with the estate.

Institutions have their own procedures and requirements before releasing their deceased customers’ assets and will inform you of these when you communicate with them. Some may require a grant, some may not. This often depends on the value of the asset.

It only becomes active when you're unable to make decisions for yourself. This contrasts with a Property and Financial Affairs LPA, which can be used as soon as it's registered, with your permission.

Both Lasting and Enduring Powers of Attorney can usually only be used by your attorneys once they are registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.

It is wise to review your will if there is any change in your circumstances or those of the beneficiaries referred to in the will. In addition, if there are changes in inheritance tax legislation, it may be appropriate to review your will. As a rule of thumb, review your will every five years just in case.

A person can usually apply to be an administrator if they are the next of kin (a close relative) of the deceased or were married to or in a civil partnership with the deceased. The rules of intestacy will apply.