Dying without leaving a will, which is called dying intestate, means your hard earned money and property could, at worst, go to the state. This sounds extreme, but if in fact you have no traceable living relatives, it could happen. Not only that, but the rules of intestacy would apply. Your estate could pass to some distant relative who is barely aware of your existence, rather than a person who has been wholly supportive, but to whom you're not actually related. Whatever your wishes might be.

If you have children under 18, and both parents die, you have effectively lost control of who will look after them. By naming their guardians in your will and making provision for their care, you can secure their future should both parents pass away.

There's a TV programme on from time to time, called "Heir Hunters" and this highlights the problems cause by failing to make a will. Each Thursday the government publishes a list of people who have died intestate. There are heir hunting firms who then set about finding out what the value of the estate is likely to be and whether it's worth their while attempting to find relatives of the deceased. If they go down this route, and manage to get any relatives to agree to use their services, they receive a commission amount for their services. Whilst some cases are relatively simple, the actual estate may be minimal and conversely some of the most hard to track down heirs can be in for a very pleasant surprise.

The "heir hunting" firms have rather more work to do since the Government stopped publishing the amount of the estate and now give only the name and place of death of the deceased and the date of death. They can send one of their representatives to investigate and find various details. For example, the property may have been rented or worth very little. By talking to neighbours, the investigators gradually piece together these people's lives and hopefully find heirs to their estate. If none can be found then the state inherits all their worldly goods and money.

Is this what you'd really want? Of course the majority of people do have family and you may think that this couldn't happen to you.

It's really simple to make a will. If it's entirely straightforward then it's possible to draw up your own, but we wouldn't really advise this. However simple it may seem, there are procedures to follow and it is, after all, a legal document that could make a very great deal of difference to your family should it be misinterpreted. By all means gather together all the information that you possibly can about the value of your home, less any mortgage and values of bank accounts, shares, etc., together with your personal belongings. When you have all the facts you can choose to get some professional advice and be sure that everything is done legally.

There are profession will-writing firms who are totally up to date with all aspects of inheritance and will give you all the advice you need at a reasonable price. They have the time to go through everything with you and may come up with some suggestions you hadn't thought of. Your solicitor or bank should be able to help too, although the charges could be higher. The main thing is: Do it now.