This week, it has been revealed that the One Direction star, Liam Payne, who died in tragic circumstances last year, left a net estate of over £24 million. The amount he left may be eye-catching, but what drew my attention was that he died intestate.

Because Mr Payne died without having a will in place, the law has determined who will inherit his assets and who will administer his estate. As an unmarried man with children, Mr Payne's only son will inherit his entire estate. I expect that this may well have been what Mr Payne would have wanted, but given the size of his estate, he may have preferred to leave some gifts of money or specific possessions to other family members, his partner or a charity. If he had made a will, he could have done this.

As Mr Payne's son is a child, the money he has been left will be held in trust for him until he is 18. As soon as he reaches that milestone birthday, he will inherit the entirety—that is what the law says. Again, if Mr Payne had made a will, he could have decided that his son needed to be older to inherit (e.g., 21).

Finally, Mr Payne has had no choice about who administers his estate. The law has determined that this is the mother of Mr Payne's minor son and, because there have to be two administrators where there is a child beneficiary, a lawyer has been appointed with her. We will never know whether Payne would have been happy for his ex-partner, Cheryl Tweedy of Girls Aloud fame, to take on this role. What I do know is that if he had made a will, he would have been able to control this.

We may not all have such a large fortune to leave, but it is wise for each of us to control the destiny and administration of our assets by making a will. Please get in touch if we can help you with this.