It’s a common understanding that you should provide for your dependants in your Will. And indeed, if you don’t make adequate provision for certain people, the law may step in and provide for them out of your estate. But the law doesn’t use the term 'dependant' when it says who you should provide for. So if someone’s Will uses that word, it has to be understood in the context of the individual circumstances.
Who is a dependant?
The law sets out various categories of people who can apply for provision from the estate of someone who has died, if they would not otherwise receive adequate financial provision:
spouse or civil partner
former spouse or civil partner unless they have remarried or formed another civil partnership
cohabiting partner of at least 2 years’ standing
child – including someone treated by the deceased as if they were his or her child
any other person who was being maintained, either wholly or partly, by the deceased at the time of his or her death.
'Maintained' means that the deceased was making a substantial financial contribution towards that person’s reasonable needs, without it being on any sort of commercial footing.
There is no maximum age for dependants.
What if someone’s Will refers to 'dependants'?
Modern Wills tend not describe gifts to dependants – they are more specific, enabling the Executors to identify precisely who is to receive each gift. But if there were a Will which referred to dependants it would usually be up to the Executors, or the trustees, to decide from the circumstances who that meant.