Dying without a Will is called dying intestate, and it does not mean your property goes to the state. It means your state legislature has already written a Will for you — in a document that knows nothing about your family.
That is the part worth understanding. The outcome is not random, it is just not yours.
Every state has its own version, but the shape is similar nearly everywhere. The estate is distributed in this order, and the differences that matter are almost all in the first two lines.
Takes some or all of the estate — but how much turns on whether there are children, and in many states on whether any of those children are from another relationship. In some states a spouse takes everything when there are no children and only a share when there are.
A share a child would have received may pass to that child’s own children instead. Whether it is divided by branch of the family or equally among the survivors changes the result whenever a child died before the parent.
With no spouse and no descendants, the next in line is usually a parent.
Siblings typically come after parents, and their children may take their share.
This is where a relative you have never met can inherit your house, because the search for next of kin is an algorithm rather than a feeling.
If no relative is found the estate escheats — it goes to the state. Rare, but it is where having no Will ends up.
| What varies | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The spouse’s share | It can be everything, a fixed fraction, or a fraction only when there are no children |
| Children from another relationship | This can cut a spouse’s share sharply, and it is the situation people most often assume wrongly |
| Community property | In community property states, property earned during the marriage may be treated differently from property brought into it |
| An unmarried partner | Generally inherits nothing, however long the relationship — there is no mechanism for it without a Will |
| Stepchildren | Generally inherit nothing unless they were legally adopted |
| A child you are estranged from | Still inherits a share unless the Will says otherwise. Silence is not exclusion |
| Small estates | Many states have a simplified procedure or a family allowance that avoids a full probate |
We are not reproducing any state’s shares, because a wrong figure here is worse than no figure. Your state’s rules are published by its courts, and an attorney in your state can tell you what they would do to your family in about ten minutes.
Often true, and often not. In a number of states the answer changes as soon as there are children, and changes again if any of them are from another relationship.
An unmarried partner is not an heir under any state’s intestacy rules. There is no length of time that changes this.
Escheat is real but rare. The usual outcome of intestacy is not the state taking your estate — it is a distribution you would not have chosen, to people you may not have wanted, administered by someone a judge picked.
30-day money-back guarantee Valid in 49 states