|
Intestacy Laws
"Intestacy" refers to any person who dies
without a valid Will, as well as to any of the deceased's property which
does not have instructions for its ownership.
Without a
valid Will,
California laws control who receives your property at death, as well as the
exact amount
that is given to each person.
These
"Intestacy Laws" are an attempt to distribute each person's property
in the manner that it
is believed most people would prefer, which is typically to the most closely
related living family members.
However, these laws are merely an assumption and the same distribution
pattern is applied
to all intestate property.
Married Couples
Many married
couples assume that each spouse's individually owned property will automatically
belong to the surviving spouse if either of them dies without a Will.
In
actuality, these laws provide the
surviving spouse with as little as
one-half of the deceased spouse's property if the deceased has any one of the following living relatives:
Child, Grandchild, Great-Grandchild, Parent,
Brother, Sister, Niece, Nephew, Grandniece, or
Grandnephew.
Further, if the deceased spouse has two or more
children, these laws grant the surviving spouse with just one-third
of the intestate estate; even if the surviving
spouse is not the parent of all these children.
Specific Examples | Click Here >>
|
|
Married Example
Assume that John, who is married to Susan, has
recently died with a $500,000 estate, but without a Will.
John
never had any children and neither of his parents are living. He also does
not have any brothers and sisters living at the time of his death.
Aside
from his wife Susan, John's only living relative is his deceased sister's adult
daughter, Jane, whom John has not seen since she was a child.
Although many people would assume that John's wife Susan is entitled to the
entire $500,000 of John's estate, she will in fact receive just one-half,
or $250,000 of the estate.
Without a valid Will directing otherwise, John's
niece Jane is entitled to receive the remaining $250,000 according to
California's Intestacy Laws.
Also note that John's personal relationship with Jane
is not considered. John may have disliked her or not even remembered
her, but these laws still grant Jane a portion of his estate simply because he did not have
a Will.
More Examples | Click Here >>
California Intestacy Calculator
The previous example, and many other possible scenarios,
are shown by our exclusive Intestacy Calculator.
Choosing different family scenarios can often
produce interesting and unanticipated results.
For example, under certain circumstances, even
the real estate a widow acquired from her deceased husband's estate can be
given to her deceased husband's nieces or nephews when the
husband died within a certain time period.
Our exclusive Intestacy Calculator evaluates
each of your answers to determine whether more information is needed and, if
so, which questions must be asked. With sufficient information, the
Intestacy Calculator automatically provides a summary of the dollar value
assigned to each person according to California's Intestacy Laws.
As you work through different fact patterns, you
may reset the calculator and begin again. Providing different answers
to the questions will produce different results.
You may freely use our Intestacy Calculator,
without any obligation, and learn about the many possibilities for the
distribution of an intestate estate under California's Intestacy Laws. Of
course, you cannot substitute this information for the advice of an
attorney.
Open the Intestacy Calculator
|
