December, 2005

Laws of Intestacy

What happens if you wait one day too many in having your last will and testament done?  Don’t worry.  If you die without a will, there are still plenty of people who will take your stuff before the State does.  It just may not be the ones you wanted.  Who gets what and how much depends on who and how much you left behind.

The first one to get his or her piece of your pie is the surviving spouse.  If you leave no other relatives, s/he gets the entire estate.  But if you left issue (children, grandchildren, etc.) or kindred, (any other relative: brothers, cousins, nephews, parents, etc.) then your spouse is only going to get a part of the wealth.

If you leave children, your spouse will get one half of everything and your children get the other half.  If there are no children but there are other relatives, your spouse will get the first $200,000.00 and one-half of the remaining property. 

Now, after the Surviving Spouse gets her share, the rest of the property goes as follows: If you have children it will all go in equal shares to your children.  If any of your children died before you, then his or her share will be further divided among his or her children by what we call “right of representation.”  If all your children were to die before you?  Then it gets divided evenly among all the grandchildren. 

If you left no issue?  You will recall above that if you have any other relatives, then one-half of any amount over $200,000 is going to go to your other kindred in a certain order.  First it will go in equal shares to your father and mother, or to the survivor of them.  If both your parents have died, then it will go in equal shares to your brothers and sisters.  Again, if any of your siblings died before you, their own children will take their share by right of representation.

If you have no surviving parents or siblings?  Go up to your grandparents and then down to your uncles and aunts and then to your cousins.  You can keep going up the tree and out if you can find someone.  If you can’t find anyone, then and only then does it go to the State.

It can get confusing so let’s look at an example.  Let’s say Orville Obstinate refused to get a will and ultimately died with a house worth $300,000 and $200,000 in the bank: $500,000 total.  If Orville was survived by only his lovely wife, Olivia, she gets the entire estate.  If he also died leaving two children, Olly and Ollietti, then the wife gets half and each child gets a fourth.

Now if Orville never had kids, then his wife Olivia will get the first $200,000 and half the rest: or another $150,000.  The other $150,000 will be divided by whatever relatives were left.  First, Orville’s parents will get it.  If they are both dead, then his brothers and sisters would divide it.  And so on and so on.

Still confused?  Then get the darn will done and you can give it to whoever you want.  Almost.