Who inherits without a will?

When the no-will rules apply

Dying without a valid will is called dying “intestate,” and it hands the distribution of the estate to a default set of rules written by the state — its intestacy statute. The same rules can apply in part even when there is a will, for any property the will does not effectively dispose of.

Two limits matter before you read any share. First, intestacy governs only the probate estate. Assets covered by a valid, effective beneficiary designation or right of survivorship, or already titled in a funded living trust, transfer by their own terms and are untouched by these rules — though a designation can fail if, say, the named beneficiary died first or disclaimed. Second, if probate assets remain, the estate may need probate or a state-authorized simplified transfer procedure; whether a court proceeding or court supervision is required at all depends on state law and the size and makeup of the estate.

The order the law generally follows

Across the states the priority ladder is broadly similar. The Uniform Probate Code, drafted by the Uniform Law Commission, is an influential model, but only a minority of states have adopted it in whole or substantial part — the rest reach a comparable hierarchy through their own statutes. The surviving spouse and the decedent’s descendants come first; if there are none, the estate moves to the parents, then to siblings and their descendants, and then outward to more remote relatives such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

The property “escheats” — passes to the state — only if no one qualifies to inherit under the applicable statute, and states differ in how far out they recognize remote kin. That is a genuine last resort, not the usual result, which is the single most common misunderstanding about dying without a will.

• Surviving spouse and the decedent’s children or other descendants
• Then the decedent’s parents
• Then siblings and their descendants
• Then more remote relatives (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins)
• The state only if no one qualifies to inherit under the statute

A spouse does not always inherit everything

It is widely assumed a surviving spouse simply inherits it all. Often that is not what the statute says. The spouse’s share is one of the parts that varies most from state to state, and it commonly turns on who else survived — whether there are children, whether those children are also the surviving spouse’s children or are from another relationship, and sometimes whether the decedent’s parents are still living.

In many states the spouse shares the estate with the decedent’s children rather than taking the whole of it, and children from a prior relationship can change the spouse’s share. Because the exact fractions are set entirely by your state’s statute, treat “the spouse gets everything” as a question to check, not a rule to rely on.

Community-property states treat marriage differently

Nine states — Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin — are community-property states, and a married person’s estate is analyzed differently there. In general each spouse already owns half of the community property, so only the deceased spouse’s half is theirs to pass, while separate property (owned before marriage or received by gift or inheritance) follows its own rules.

A few states sit at the edge of this line — Alaska, for example, lets spouses opt into community-property treatment by written agreement rather than applying it automatically. If marital property is involved, whether your state is community-property or separate-property is one of the first things to confirm, because it changes what is even in the estate to divide.

When a child or other heir has already died

If an heir who would have inherited — a child, most often — died before the decedent but left children of their own, the estate has to decide whether those grandchildren step into the parent’s place. States answer this with one of two main methods, and which one applies is set by statute.

States use more than one representation system, and the labels overlap confusingly. Strict per stirpes keeps a deceased heir’s share within their branch, so their children split exactly what their parent would have taken. Modern per stirpes — per capita with representation — generally starts dividing at the nearest generation that has a living member, then preserves each deceased member’s branch below that. Per capita at each generation instead pools the shares of the deceased members at a level and divides them equally among the next generation. The safest reading is that a deceased heir’s descendants usually inherit in their place, but which system applies, and the exact split, is a state-law question.

Who does not inherit automatically

Several relationships that feel like family do not inherit by intestacy on their own. A stepchild who was never legally adopted, and an unmarried partner, generally do not take a share under most states’ default rules — the notable exception is the handful of states that recognize common-law marriage, where a partner who meets that state’s requirements may count as a surviving spouse.

Other relationships are recognized. A child the decedent legally adopted is generally treated as their child for intestacy; how an adoption affects inheritance through the biological parents, and exceptions for some stepparent or relative adoptions, vary by state. Half-siblings are treated the same as full siblings in most states, though a few still reduce a half-sibling’s share. A child conceived before the decedent’s death but born after it is generally treated as an heir; a child conceived after death through assisted reproduction is more complicated and usually requires proof the decedent intended it. Each of these is ultimately governed by your state’s statute.

What this cannot tell you, and where to confirm it

This is general guidance, not legal advice, and it deliberately stops short of the numbers. The exact share each relative receives is set by statute — generally the law of the state where the person was domiciled at death for their personal property, and the law of the state where any real estate sits for that real estate, so a multistate estate can answer to more than one — and those statutes differ in real ways and change. It also does not decide contested questions of paternity, marriage, adoption, or which property is separate versus community.

Use it to understand the shape of the answer — who is in line, and why the state rarely takes everything — then confirm the exact result. Open the state comparison to reach your jurisdiction’s reviewed route and official court resources, work through whether the estate even needs full probate, and take any share question that carries real money to a licensed attorney in the relevant state.