Intestate Succession: Who Inherits When There Is No Will

When a person dies without a valid will, a state statute called the intestate succession law decides who takes the property the person left. Each state, and the District of Columbia, writes its own version, so the same family can be treated very differently in Alabama, Texas and New York.

This guide explains the patterns those 51 laws share and where they split, with the state statute behind every example. It covers US state law only. For the default shares in one state, use the calculator below or open that state's probate guide.

Who inherits without a will: default shares by state

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1. State where the person lived (or where the real estate is)Choose a stateAlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming

Did a husband or wife survive them (still married at death)?

YesNo

Some states give a registered domestic partner or civil union partner the same share as a spouse. If that applies, answer Yes and check the notes in the results for your state.

Living children0123456789101112

Children who died before them but left children or grandchildren who are alive0123456789101112

Count adopted children as children. Stepchildren are covered by a separate rule shown in the results.

Living parents012

Living brothers and sisters (same two parents)0123456789101112

Living half-brothers and half-sisters0123456789101112

Brothers or sisters who died before them but left children who are alive0123456789101112

Open the full intestate succession calculator

Statutes checked October 26, 2026.

What intestate succession is, and what it does not reach

Intestate succession is the order of heirs a state's probate code sets for a person who leaves no valid will, or a will that does not dispose of everything. The statute names who takes, in what order, and in what fractions. A court applies it during probate or a similar proceeding.

The rule does not divide everything the person owned. It divides what is left after the estate pays its bills and after the spouse and children receive the allowances the law sets aside for them.

New York's statute says this directly: debts, administration expenses and reasonable funeral expenses "shall be deducted" before the shares are figured (EPTL 4-1.1). Washington computes shares from a "net estate" that excludes homestead rights, exempt property, the family allowance, and debts and claims (RCW 11.02.005(13)). Kansas figures shares only after homestead rights, the statutory allowances, funeral and last-illness expenses, administration costs, taxes and debts (K.S.A. 59-502).

Minnesota's definition shows how narrow the target is. The intestate estate is "any part of the decedent's estate not allowed to the decedent's spouse or descendants" under the homestead, exempt property and family allowance sections, "and not disposed of by will" (Minn. Stat. 524.2-101(a)).

Assets that follow their own paperwork

Some property has its own route at death and does not wait for the intestacy order: assets with a named beneficiary, a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designation, property held jointly with a right of survivorship, and trust property. These assets generally go to the named person or surviving joint owner under that arrangement, not under the intestacy order.

Statutes treat these routes as separate from intestacy. Missouri has its own rules, outside its intestacy chapter, for beneficiary designations and life insurance proceeds (RSMo 461.054). Kansas lists taking "as a surviving joint tenant, as the designated beneficiary of real or personal property, as a beneficiary under a trust" as routes distinct from "intestate succession" (K.S.A. 59-513(a)).

Kentucky is an exception for a surviving spouse. Since July 15, 2026 it counts beneficiary-designated, transfer-on-death, payable-on-death (including retirement accounts) and survivorship-joint assets toward the spouse's one-half of "surplus personalty", though not life insurance death benefits. Revocable-trust property and transfers made less than two years before the death count too, and the spouse may sue the people who received that property as necessary to satisfy that half (KRS 392.020(2), (4)-(6), (8)).

The practical first step is to sort the assets by how each one passes: account and policy beneficiary forms, deeds and titles held jointly with a right of survivorship or with a transfer-on-death designation, and trust documents. What remains (property in the decedent's name alone, plus the decedent's share of anything co-owned without a survivorship right, such as a tenancy in common) is what the intestacy shares divide.

Some states also look back at nonprobate transfers when they set the spouse's share. In Utah, when the estate passes to the spouse and other heirs, nonprobate transfers the spouse received are added back and counted against the spouse's share (Utah Code 75-2-102(2)).

The general order of heirs

State statutes rank relatives in classes, and a relative in an earlier class takes ahead of one in a later class. The usual sequence is:

1. The surviving spouse, sharing with the decedent's descendants (children, grandchildren and so on) when there are any.
2. Parents, if there is no descendant (and in some states only if there is also no spouse).
3. Brothers and sisters, and the descendants of any who died first.
4. Grandparents and their descendants (aunts, uncles, cousins), split half to the father's side and half to the mother's side in states such as Arizona and New York.
5. In some states, stepchildren or the relatives of a spouse who died earlier.
6. The state, if no one the statute reaches survives.

New York's EPTL 4-1.1 follows that shape: spouse and issue, then parents, then "issue of parents", then grandparents and their issue split by parental side. Arizona's A.R.S. 14-2103 gives descendants first, then parents "equally if both survive or to the surviving parent", then the descendants of the parents, then half to the paternal grandparents' side and half to the maternal side.

Each state writes its own version, and the differences are real. Kentucky rewrote its order in 2026: the act moved the spouse into the first class, effective July 15, 2026, and before that change the spouse inherited the rest of the estate only after children, parents and brothers and sisters, apart from the separate spouse's share under KRS 392.020, which before the change gave the spouse one-half of the surplus real estate and one-half of the surplus personal property outright; the act ended the real-estate half and kept the personal-property half (2026 Ky. Acts ch. 134).

The date of death decides which version applies

Intestacy rules change, and the law in force when the person died is the one to read. The calculator's data marks five jurisdictions where the answer depends on whether the death came before or after a recent change:

• Colorado: the rules for heirs other than the spouse were reenacted effective August 10, 2022 (C.R.S. 15-11-103).
• Hawaii: Act 158 of 2023 raised the spouse's first amounts from $200,000, $150,000 and $100,000 to $400,000, $330,000 and $220,000; it was approved June 29, 2023 and does not affect rights that matured before then (SB483 CD1).
• Maryland: Chapter 647 of 2023, effective October 1, 2023, rewrote the spouse's and other heirs' shares and raised one spouse amount from $40,000 to $100,000 (Chapter 647 of 2023).
• Kentucky: the rewritten order described above took effect July 15, 2026; the act does not say how it applies to earlier deaths.
• Nebraska: LB838, operative July 18, 2026, raised the spouse's first amount to $150,000; for deaths before that date the figure is $100,000, and the act does not say how it applies to earlier deaths (Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2302).

Where an act is silent about earlier deaths, the law in force at the death is the usual starting point, and a court decides any dispute.

The surviving spouse's share

The spouse's share varies widely from state to state. Three facts about the family drive it:

• whether every one of the decedent's children (and their descendants) is also the spouse's;
• whether the spouse has children of their own from another relationship;
• when there are no descendants, whether a parent of the decedent survives.

Some states also count the child lines (California and North Carolina) or ask whether a child is under 18 (Maryland).

When all the children are the spouse's too

Take a married couple whose two adult children are both children of the marriage, where the surviving spouse has no other children and no allowances are counted. On those facts, the default rule gives the surviving spouse the entire intestate estate in 21 of the 51 jurisdictions. Elsewhere, the children or a parent take part of it, or the answer turns on other facts the calculator asks about.

Utah is one of the states that keep the whole estate with the spouse in that family. Its statute gives the spouse "the entire intestate estate" if "all of the decedent's surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse", and Utah does not cut that share when the spouse has children of their own (Utah Code 75-2-102(1)(a)).

Fixed first amounts plus a fraction

Many states give the spouse a dollar amount off the top, then a fraction of the rest. A few examples, all from the state statute:

Amounts that rise with inflation

In some states the first amount is indexed, so the figure depends on the year of death. Michigan's statute sets a $150,000 base, which the Department of Treasury adjusts to $301,000 for 2026 deaths (MCL 700.2102; Treasury notice).

Colorado's $225,000 base, used when every child is also the spouse's but the spouse has other descendants, becomes $332,000 for 2026 deaths, and the $150,000 base used when a child is not the spouse's becomes $221,000 (C.R.S. 15-11-102; Department of Revenue table). Maine indexes its spouse amounts every year as well (Maine Probate Courts table).

When there are no children but a parent survives

Here the states split. Take a spouse and both of the decedent's parents, no descendants, and a marriage of three years or more. On those facts the default rule gives the spouse the whole intestate estate in 25 of the 51 jurisdictions. Elsewhere the parents can take a part.

Alabama gives the spouse the first $100,000 plus one-half of the balance when a parent survives (Ala. Code 43-8-41(2)). Colorado gives the spouse an indexed first amount ($442,000 for 2026 deaths) plus three-fourths of the balance (C.R.S. 15-11-102(2)).

Life estates instead of outright shares

A few states still give the spouse a life interest in land rather than ownership. In Texas, when the decedent leaves children, the spouse takes one-third of the separate personal property and "a life estate in one-third of the person's land", with the land itself going to the children (Tex. Estates Code 201.002(b)).

Arkansas gives a spouse with children dower or curtesy: a life interest in one-third of the land (Ark. Code 28-11-301(a)). In Louisiana, a spouse with descendants holds a usufruct over the decedent's share of the community property, which "terminates when the surviving spouse dies or remarries" (La. Civ. Code art. 890).

Registered domestic partners

Some states give a registered domestic partner the spouse's share. California gives a surviving registered domestic partner the same rights as a widow or widower (Cal. Fam. Code 297.5(c)). Washington's state registered domestic partners take exactly as a spouse does (RCW 11.04.015), and so does a Wisconsin domestic partner registered under chapter 770 (Wis. Stat. 852.01). Wisconsin issues no declaration to couples who applied after April 1, 2018, so only partnerships registered before then qualify (Wis. Stat. 770.07(3)).

Maryland gives a registered domestic partner the spouse's share (Est. & Trusts 3-102(a)), and Colorado includes a civil union partner in the statutory meaning of spouse and heir (C.R.S. 14-15-107(2)).

Community property states

Nine states divide community property separately from the decedent's other property: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.

Several other states, including Florida (Fla. Stat. 732.219), Hawaii (HRS 510-23), Kentucky (KRS 391.220) and Oregon (ORS 112.735), split community property a couple acquired while living in a community-property state the same way at death. Alaska lets couples opt in to community property by agreement or trust (AS 34.77). The state guides give the details.

In those states the surviving spouse already owns half of the community property. Intestacy reaches only the decedent's half, plus the decedent's separate property. Washington's statute confirms the survivor's half to them at death and makes "the other one-half share" subject to the will or to descent (RCW 11.02.070). Wisconsin's surviving spouse keeps an undivided one-half interest in each item of marital property, which "is not subject to administration" (Wis. Stat. 861.01(1)).

What happens to the decedent's half differs:

• California: the decedent's half of the community property goes to the spouse (Prob. Code 6401(a)). Separate property is shared, with the spouse taking one-third when the decedent leaves more than one child (6401(c)(3)).
• Idaho: the decedent's half of the community property passes to the spouse (Idaho Code 15-2-102(b)(1)).
• New Mexico: the decedent's half of the community property passes to the spouse (NMSA 1978 45-2-102(B)); with children, the spouse takes one-fourth of the separate property (45-2-102(A)(2)).
• Nevada: the intestacy chapter "appl[ies] only to the separate property of the decedent" (NRS 134.010(3)).
• Arizona and Texas: the decedent's half of the community property goes to the spouse when every child is also the spouse's, and to the decedent's descendants when any child is not (A.R.S. 14-2102; Tex. Estates Code 201.003).
• Louisiana: with descendants, the spouse holds the usufruct described above over the decedent's share of the community property (La. Civ. Code art. 890).

Sorting community from separate property is a factual question about when and how each asset was acquired. The calculator asks for the two classes separately in these states, and its community figures mean the decedent's half only.

Children and grandchildren

Children take first after the spouse's share, and the descendants of a child who died earlier step into that child's place. How the share is split among those descendants depends on the state's method of representation.

When a child died first: two ways to divide

Take a composite family for illustration: the decedent had three children. Ann survives. Ben died earlier leaving one child. Cara died earlier leaving two children. There is no spouse.

The deceased child's line keeps that child's share. Ohio's statute gives the descendants of a deceased child "equal parts of that portion of the estate to which the deceased child would be entitled if the deceased child were living" (ORC 2105.13). On these facts, Ann takes one-third, Ben's child takes one-third, and Cara's two children split one-third, one-sixth each. Kentucky's per stirpes rule works the same way at the first class (KRS 391.040).

The deceased children's shares are pooled. Arizona allocates one share to each survivor in the nearest generation, and "any remaining shares are combined and then divided in the same manner among the surviving descendants of the deceased descendants" (A.R.S. 14-2106(A)). Ann still takes one-third. The other two-thirds are pooled and split equally among the three grandchildren, two-ninths each. New York (EPTL 1-2.16) and North Carolina (G.S. 29-16(a)) also combine the deceased members' shares and divide them at the next generation.

Some statutes simply say "per stirpes" without defining it further, as Florida's does (Fla. Stat. 732.104). The calculator applies each state's own method.

Adopted children

Adoption moves a child into the adoptive family for inheritance. Arizona's statute says an adopted person "is the child of that person's adopting parent or parents and not of the natural parents", and a stepparent adoption does not cut off inheritance from or through the other natural parent (A.R.S. 14-2114(B)).

Stepchildren

A stepchild who was never adopted does not inherit as a child in states such as Delaware and Tennessee (T.C.A. 31-1-101(1)). Delaware's definition of "child" excludes "any person who is only a stepchild" (12 Del. C. 101(1)).

Several states let stepchildren take only at the very end of the order, when no blood relative survives. Connecticut distributes the residue "to the stepchildren" only "if there is no next of kin" (Conn. Gen. Stat. 45a-439(a)(4)). Ohio (ORC 2105.06(J)) and New Jersey (N.J.S.A. 3B:5-4 f) do the same.

California adds a narrow path: a stepchild or foster child can inherit as a child if the relationship began during the child's minority, continued through their joint lifetimes, and clear and convincing evidence shows the stepparent would have adopted but for a legal barrier (Cal. Prob. Code 6454).

Children born outside marriage, and claim deadlines

Arizona's statute makes a person the child of the natural parents regardless of their marital status (A.R.S. 14-2114). On the father's side, some states require proof of paternity and set a short deadline after his death:

• Arkansas: an action or claim against the father's estate within 180 days of his death, plus one of six listed conditions (Ark. Code 28-9-209(d)).
• Louisiana: for succession purposes, a one-year peremptive period from the alleged father's death (La. Civ. Code art. 197).
• Mississippi: a paternity action filed within one year after the death or within 90 days after first publication of notice to creditors, "whichever is less" (Miss. Code 91-1-15).
• West Virginia: after the father's death, a family court action within six months of the order admitting the will or opening administration, or within six months of the death if there is none (W. Va. Code 42-1-5). A child under 18 at the death has until six months after turning 18 (42-1-5(d)).

These periods can run out while a family is still arranging a funeral. The after-a-death deadline checklist collects state deadlines in one place.

Children born after the death

Statutes such as New York's treat a child conceived before the death but born after it as living at the death. New York's distributees "conceived before his or her death but born alive thereafter, take as if they were born in his or her lifetime" (EPTL 4-1.1(c)). Arizona adds a condition: the child must live at least 120 hours after birth (A.R.S. 14-2108).

Brothers, sisters and half-blood relatives

Brothers and sisters inherit when there is no spouse, no descendant and no parent (and in some states they share with a spouse or a parent). The descendants of a brother or sister who died first take that sibling's place.

A half brother or half sister shares one parent with the decedent. Counting the rule each jurisdiction applies to half brothers and sisters, 40 of the 51 give a half-blood relative the same share as a whole-blood one. Arizona's version: relatives of the half blood "inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood" (A.R.S. 14-2107).

Five states cut the half-blood share in half when whole-blood and half-blood relatives take together:

• Florida (Fla. Stat. 732.105), and Missouri (RSMo 474.040), each of which gives whole shares when all are half blood;
• Kentucky (KRS 391.050);
• Texas (Tex. Estates Code 201.057);
• Virginia, where "collaterals of the half blood shall inherit only half as much as those of the whole blood" (Va. Code 64.2-202(B)).

The remaining six jurisdictions use other rules, which the calculator and the state guides spell out.

The 120-hour survival rule

When two family members die close together, the law has to decide who survived whom. 38 of the 51 jurisdictions use a 120-hour rule: an heir who does not outlive the decedent by 120 hours is treated as having died first.

Arizona's version: a person who does not survive by at least 120 hours "is deemed to have predeceased the decedent" for intestate succession (A.R.S. 14-2104(A)).

The other jurisdictions differ. Maryland treats a descendant, ancestor or descendant of an ancestor who "fails to survive the decedent by 30 full days" as having died first (Est. & Trusts 3-110(a)). Connecticut sets no fixed period; where there is no sufficient evidence that two people died other than simultaneously, each person's property passes as if that person had survived (Conn. Gen. Stat. 45a-440).

Who can lose a share

State statutes bar some people who would otherwise inherit. The common grounds:

Killing the decedent

A person who "feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent forfeits all benefits", including an intestate share, under Arizona law; the estate passes as if the killer had disclaimed (A.R.S. 14-2803(A)). Michigan extends forfeiture to a person "convicted of committing abuse, neglect, or exploitation with respect to the decedent" (MCL 700.2803(1)). Kansas bars a person convicted of feloniously killing the decedent from taking by intestacy and also as a joint tenant, designated beneficiary or trust beneficiary (K.S.A. 59-513(a)).

Divorce

A former spouse is not a surviving spouse. In Arizona, a person "divorced from the decedent or whose marriage to the decedent has been annulled is not a surviving spouse" unless they remarried the decedent, and a separation decree that does not end the marriage is not a divorce (A.R.S. 14-2802(A)).

Abandonment and failure to support

Some states bar a spouse who walked out. Connecticut denies an intestate share to a spouse who, "without sufficient cause", abandoned the other and continued the abandonment until death (Conn. Gen. Stat. 45a-436(g)). Pennsylvania bars a spouse who for a year or more before the death willfully failed to support, or willfully and maliciously deserted, the other (20 Pa.C.S. 2106(a)(1)). Virginia bars a deserting spouse from the intestate share and the allowances (Va. Code 64.2-308(A)).

Some states also bar a parent who abandoned a child from inheriting from a child who dies as a minor. In Ohio, the bar applies only to a child who died under 18, and only after a probate court so finds in a proceeding that must be started within four months after the administrator receives letters of administration (ORC 2105.10). Maryland bars a parent from the estate of a minor child if the parent abandoned the child or willfully failed to support the child for at least the 3 consecutive years before the death, or for the child's life if shorter (Est. & Trusts 3-112(a)).

When no relative is found

If no one the statute reaches survives, the estate passes to the state, a result called escheat. Arizona's version: "If no one is qualified to claim the estate under this article, the intestate estate passes to the state" (A.R.S. 14-2105).

Escheat is not always the end of the road. Some states keep a door open for a relative who turns up later:

• Florida: the property is sold and the proceeds go to the Chief Financial Officer; "within 10 years after the payment", a person claiming to be entitled may reopen the administration (Fla. Stat. 732.107).
• Maryland: the net estate goes to the county board of education (or, for a Medicaid long-term care recipient, the Department of Health), and a relative within the fifth degree can claim a refund within the later of three years after the death or one year after distribution (Est. & Trusts 3-105).
• Oregon: a missing heir's share goes to the State Treasurer's Unclaimed Property and Estates Fund, where it remains subject to claims under ORS 116.253 (ORS 112.055).
• Connecticut: when no one entitled can be identified or located, the probate court orders the property paid to the State Treasurer as abandoned property under the state's unclaimed property law (Conn. Gen. Stat. 45a-452).

A relative who believes an estate escheated should start with the probate court that handled it and the state treasurer's unclaimed property office, and check the claim window in that state's statute.

What to do next

1. Sort the assets. Separate what passes by beneficiary form, joint title with a right of survivorship, transfer-on-death designation or trust from what sits in the decedent's name alone.
2. Work out the default shares. The intestate succession calculator applies your state's statute to your family's facts and shows the section behind each share.
3. Check the deadlines. Probate filing limits, creditor periods and paternity claim windows can be short. The after-a-death deadline checklist lists them by state.
4. Read your state's guide. The probate hub and the state guides below explain how the estate is opened and administered.

This page is general legal information about US state intestacy statutes as of October 2026, not legal advice. Where the heirs are disputed, the estate is large, the family is blended, or a deadline is close, a probate lawyer licensed in the state where the decedent lived (or where real estate sits) is worth consulting.

State probate and intestacy guides

Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut · Delaware · District of Columbia · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Maine · Maryland · Massachusetts · Michigan · Minnesota · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Rhode Island · South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Washington · West Virginia · Wisconsin · Wyoming

Frequently Asked Questions

Who inherits when someone dies without a will?

The state's intestate succession statute decides. The usual order is the surviving spouse and the descendants, then parents, then brothers and sisters and their descendants, then grandparents and more remote relatives, and finally the state. Each state writes its own version, so the shares depend on where the person lived and, for land, where it sits.

Does the surviving spouse get everything if there is no will?

Sometimes. With a spouse and two adult children who are all also the spouse's, and a spouse with no other children, the default rule gives the spouse the whole intestate estate in 21 of 51 jurisdictions. Elsewhere the children share, and a blended family or a surviving parent can reduce the spouse's share.

Do children inherit if there is a surviving spouse?

Often, yes. New York, for example, gives the spouse $50,000 and one-half of the residue and the children the balance (EPTL 4-1.1(a)(1)). In the 21 jurisdictions where the spouse takes everything when every child is also the spouse's (and the spouse has no other children), children from another relationship can change the result.

Do stepchildren inherit without a will?

Not as children in states such as Delaware, whose definition of child excludes a person who is only a stepchild. Some states, such as Connecticut, Ohio and New Jersey, let stepchildren take only when no blood relative survives. Adoption makes a stepchild a child for inheritance.

Do half siblings inherit the same as full siblings?

In 40 of 51 jurisdictions, counting the rule each applies to half brothers and sisters, yes. Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas and Virginia give a half-blood relative half as much as a whole-blood one when they take together.

Does intestate succession cover life insurance, joint accounts and retirement accounts?

Assets with a named beneficiary, a joint owner with survivorship, a transfer-on-death designation or a trust generally pass under that arrangement, not under the intestacy order. In Kentucky, a surviving spouse can reach many of these assets, though not a life insurance death benefit, to satisfy a one-half share of surplus personalty (KRS 392.020). Some other states count them when setting the spouse's share.

What happens if there are no living relatives?

The estate passes to the state (escheat). Some states leave a window to claim it back: Florida allows a claimant to reopen the administration within 10 years after payment to the Chief Financial Officer, and Maryland lets close relatives seek a refund within set periods.

Is there a deadline to claim an inheritance as a child born outside marriage?

In some states, yes, and it can be short. Arkansas requires an action or claim against the father's estate within 180 days of his death, and Louisiana sets a one-year period for succession purposes. Check the state statute and the deadline checklist promptly.