Succession Act 1965 section 67A

Shares of surviving civil partner and issue

Section 67A sets out how the estate of a person who dies intestate is distributed between a surviving civil partner and any children (issue) of the deceased.

• Where the deceased leaves a civil partner but no children, the civil partner inherits the entire estate; where there are children, the civil partner receives two-thirds and the remaining one-third is shared among the children.
• A child of the deceased (who is not also a child of the surviving civil partner) may apply to court for additional provision from the estate, but only if the court considers it would be unjust not to make such an order.
• Any court order must not reduce what other children would otherwise receive, and the applicant child cannot be awarded more than they would have received had the deceased died without a spouse or civil partner.
• An application for additional provision must be made within six months of the first grant of representation of the deceased's estate, with proceedings conducted in a summary manner and costs at the court's discretion.