Can A Friend Inherit Your House And Money If You Die And You Have No Surviving Relatives?

[blankaszewczyk]

Can a friend or someone you are close to inherit your house, possessions, and wealth if you have no surviving relatives you can pass it down to?

[jno]

you can leave it to whoever you want, but you have to make a will.

[Buenchico]

In principle, you're free to leave your estate to whomever you like, irrespective of their relationship (or lack of it) to you. You simply need to write a clearly-worded will to that effect. (There are some circumstances under which family members, or others, might launch a legal challenge to your will after your death but they'd need to show that they had a right to 'reasonable provision' from your estate. That's unlikely to matter where there are no surviving relatives anyway).

Neither of the two beneficiaries of my will are related to me and I can think of no reason why any relatives of mine would be able to launch a valid challenge to the provisions of that will.

[woofgang]

Just to mention that those answers are correct in England and, I think Wales and Scotland. If you live elsewhere then you need to check local law.

[Peter Pedant]

Yes - but you MUST have a will saying so ( English Law)

If you are the one with the house - you must make a will and I think doing-it-yourself is a bad idea
If you are the friend and he is already dead, then without a will you have no claim

[AuntPG]

Only if you leave a Will. If you have no Will all your
Estate' that is the sum total of the house, contents and any money in bank accounts will be either given to the next known relative, however distant that may be, or will go to the Government (heaven forbid)

[AuntPG]

I'm presuming you are in the UK. French Law is very different.