Families generally rely on wills and other estate planning documents after an adult dies. People can choose beneficiaries and even personal representatives to administer their estates. They can provide clear instructions regarding the distribution of their assets.
Unfortunately, those who have recently lost a loved one do not always have an estate plan to guide estate administration. Many people die without wills, leaving major questions for the people left behind.
An individual who dies without a will has died intestate. What happens to the assets contained in an intestate estate?
The law designates specific heirs
When people create estate plans, they can name specific parties as their beneficiaries. They choose people and even charitable organizations to receive their resources. Without an estate plan, the law determines who receives resources as heirs.
Typically, spouses and minor children have the strongest protection as the primary heirs of an individual’s estate. There are different rules governing real estate holdings, such as a primary residence, and personal property, such as furniture and collectibles.
Intestate succession rules favor surviving spouses and progeny. How they divide the estate depends on whether the surviving spouse is also a parent to the decedent’s children.
Not everyone has a spouse or children to inherit their resources. Parents and siblings, as well as the progeny of siblings, can inherit from an intestate estate if the deceased person did not have a spouse or any surviving offspring. Friends, more distant family members and even unmarried romantic partners do not have any formal protection under intestate succession laws.
Knowing what to expect during estate administration can be beneficial for those who had close relationships with the person who died. Immediate family members are typically the people who inherit when someone dies without a will.