You Can’t Choose the Timing of Your Death, but You Choose What Happens Next

Dying without a will often means your survivors could face a complicated, costly, and frustrating process after your death. Had there been a will or other estate planning tool, survivors could have avoided or lowered taxes on their inheritance. With a will, the decedent decides how the estate is distributed, to whom among surviving relatives and friends, and to what charities and other causes.

What happens when a deceased person left no will in California?

A decedent leaving no will is said to have died intestate. When a person dies intestate, the California probate court steps in to distribute the estate according to California's laws. The probate court first deducts the funeral expenses and any unpaid medical bills from the estate and then deducts taxes, family allowance expenses, and other debts owed. The way the balance is distributed depends on the family situation:

• Married without children - The spouse gets all the decedent's community property and also receives all of the separate property if the decedent is not survived by children, parents, siblings, or children of a deceased brother or sister.
• Married with children - The community property usually goes to the surviving spouse. If the decedent has only one child, the surviving spouse also receives one half of the separate property, while the other half is allocated to the child. If there are more children than one, the surviving spouse receives one third of the separate property while the other two thirds are split among the children.

What is the order of distribution when there is no surviving spouse?

The estate is distributed to one of the following categories of survivors, in descending order of priority:

1. Decedent's children
2. Decedent descendants
3. Decedent's surviving parents
4. Issue of decedent's parent(s)
5. Issue of decedent's grandparent(s)
6. Issue of predeceased spouse (for personal property, the former spouse cannot predecease the decedent by more than 5 years, while for real property the time limit is 15 years.)
7. Decedent's next of kin

Many more California probate law provisions define what happens with a domestic partner when the decedent is not married or a widow / widower, or when there are no surviving relatives.

Talk to California probate and trust administration attorney Scott Grossman about what your situation is, what your goals are, and any questions you might have. Call us at (951) 683-3704 or (866) 840-0000 for your FREE 30 minute telephone consultation. Our offices are located in Riverside and Temecula.

If you would like more information on probate and trust administration, order our FREE books and DVDs:

• The Insider's Guide to California Probate and Trust Administration
• Probate a Will or Administer a Trust After the Death of a Loved One