If you do not leave a valid will, your estate, your money and possessions, will be distributed in accordance with the Rules for distribution on intestacy laid down in the Succession Act, Cap. 249 of the Laws of Barbados.

If you have no relatives the State is entitled to take everything. If you are married, or in a common law relationship, the first person entitled to your estate under the Rules for distribution on intestacy is your spouse/ common law partner, but he or she will not necessarily inherit the whole of your estate. The amount your spouse/ common law partner would inherit depends on and if any of your relatives survive you. Assets held in joint names pass automatically to the other joint owner(s) and do not form part of your estate (if you are unsure about the type of joint ownership you share with another, you should consider seeking legal advice).

The Rules for distribution on intestacy in a simplified form (see this Chart) 

If any of the following circumstances apply to you, the Rules for distribution on intestacy may not cater for your situation in the way that you would wish:

• You are living together but are not married or in a common law relationship but wish your partner to inherit some or all of your estate.
• You are married or in a common law relationship and have children and you wish your spouse/ a common law partner to inherit all of your estate.
• You have no living relatives and wish to leave your estate to your friends or to a charity.
• You are married or in a common law relationship and have children from a previous relationship and you wish to control how much your children receive from your estate and when.
• You have dependent relatives e.g. children under the age of 18, elderly relatives or relatives with a disability who have special needs and you want to make sure that they are looked after and provided for. (If you make a Will you can appoint guardians to look after your children and set up Trust in your Will to provide for dependants.

In a nutshell, the rules are as follows:
If you die without a Will and have a surviving spouse or common law partner:
• If you have no surviving children or other relatives, everything passes to your spouse or common law partner.
• If you have surviving children, your spouse or common law partner receives 1/3 of the estate. The remainder of your estate will pass to your children absolutely or held for them in a statutory trust until they reach the age of 18.
• If you have no children or grandchildren your surviving spouse or common law partner inherits 2 / 3
of the whole estate with 1/3 going to your next-of- kin.

No surviving spouse or common law partner
Your children will share everything. If any of your children have not survived, their own children (i.e. your grandchildren) will inherit their share.

No surviving children or other direct descendants (including great grandchildren)

The rules for this scenario are that your estate will be inherited by your other relatives in the following order:

• Your parents.
• Your brothers and sisters or their children if any your siblings have not survived you.
• The children of your siblings (if all of your siblings have not survived you)
• Your grandparents.
• Your uncles and aunts.
• Your next-of-kin.
• The State.

Ascertainment of next-of-kin
(1) Subject to subsection (2), the person who, at the date of the death of the intestate, stands nearest in blood relationship to him shall be taken to be his next-of-kin.
(2) Degrees of blood relationship shall be ascertained by counting the number of steps between the intestate and the relative in question counting directly in the case of those related lineally and through the nearest common ancestor in the case of those who are issue of an ancestor of the intestate but are not themselves ancestors of the intestate; but where a direct lineal ancestor and any other relative are so ascertained to be within the same degree of blood relationship to the intestate, the other relative shall be preferred to the exclusion of the direct lineal ancestor.
Please see the Table of Consanguinity showing degrees of relationship.