What happens if you die without a will?
Your state has already written one for you. Here is what it says, and who it leaves out.
The short answer
If you die without a will, your state’s intestacy statute decides who inherits, usually a share to a surviving spouse and the rest to biological or adopted children in a fixed order. A court appoints an administrator and, if you have minor children, a guardian. Stepchildren you never adopted and unmarried partners typically receive nothing.
Nobody dies without an estate plan. They die with the default one their state wrote, decades ago, for an average family that may look nothing like theirs.
Who inherits, in what order
Every state has an intestacy statute that distributes an estate down a fixed hierarchy: spouse, then children and their descendants, then parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives.
The split between a surviving spouse and children varies a great deal by state, and it is often not the whole estate to the spouse. In several states a surviving spouse takes half or a third when there are children from a previous relationship.
Who receives nothing
A partner you never married, however long you were together. Stepchildren you raised but never legally adopted. Close friends. A charity you supported for thirty years. None of them appear in an intestacy statute.
This is the single largest gap between what people intend and what the default produces, and it is entirely fixable with one document.
Who raises your children
With no will, there is no nominated guardian, so a judge selects one from whoever petitions the court. Relatives who disagree argue it out in a hearing rather than reading your answer.
A guardian nomination is made in a will and nowhere else. If you have children under eighteen, this is the reason to do it this month rather than this year.
Who administers the estate
The court appoints an administrator, usually a close relative who applies. They do the same job an executor does, without having been chosen by you, and in many states they must post a bond, which costs the estate money.
Everything also takes longer. An intestate estate involves establishing heirs before anything can be distributed.
What a will does not control either
Retirement accounts and life insurance pass by beneficiary designation, jointly owned property usually passes to the surviving owner, and assets in a funded trust pass under the trust.
So a complete plan is a will plus current beneficiary forms plus, where it earns its place, a trust. Checking your beneficiary designations is free and takes fifteen minutes.
Questions people also ask
Does the state take your money if you die without a will?
Only if no relatives can be found at all, which is rare. Property passing to the state, called escheat, is the last step after a search for heirs including quite distant relatives.
Does my spouse automatically get everything?
Not necessarily. Several states split an intestate estate between a surviving spouse and children, particularly where there are children from an earlier relationship. The exact share depends on your state.
How long does an intestate estate take to settle?
Generally longer than one with a will, because heirs have to be identified and an administrator appointed before anything else happens. Several months to more than a year is common.
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