Who Inherits Without a Will
It has recently come to my attention that people don’t actually know who would inherit from them if they died without a will or trust. I’m so well steeped in estate administration procedures that it didn’t occur to me that this is not common knowledge. So please forgive me for not addressing this sooner, and let’s dive in.
The California Probate Code has a clear set of rules for who inherits in the absence of a will or trust. They tried to set it up the way they think most people would want it. Of course, this may or may not be true for your specific situation. So what are the rules?
Beneficiary or joint tenancy accounts and assets. Anything with a beneficiary designation goes directly to the beneficiary. The same is true of any joint tenancy assets. This is true regardless of whether there’s a will or trust, so make sure to check your beneficiary designations regularly to confirm they’re up to date.
Community property. All your community property assets go to your surviving spouse if you are married. That means anything that has both your names on it, any money earned during marriage, or any assets purchased using community property money. Anything that does not fall into one of these categories is considered separate property, and it would be distributed as follows:
When there’s a spouse and/or kids. If you have children but no spouse, everything goes to the children. If you have a spouse and children, the separate property will be split between them. If you have a spouse and no children, half of your separate property goes to your spouse, and half to your closest blood relatives, as outlined below.
When there’s no spouse or kids. If you have no spouse or children who outlive you, the estate will go to your closest blood relatives.
Who are my closest blood relatives? The Probate Code says this is the order of priority for who among your relatives would inherit from you:
- Your parents; if none are living, then
- Your siblings (if you have a deceased sibling with children, their children inherit their share); if none are living, then
- Your grandparents, if none are living, then
- Descendants of grandparents (i.e., aunts and uncles; if there’s a deceased aunt or uncle with children, their children inherit their share)
The list continues on after that, but it gets a bit complicated, and most of the time, you can find an heir without having to go any further.
If you’d like help understanding or updating who could inherit from your estate, I’d be happy to help—email me at kaway@kawaylaw.com.
