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Legal Relationship for Inheritance

April 13, 2006

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Each state has its own rules about who will get your property if you die without a will. Generally, what happens is that the state creates categories of closest relatives. If a person falls within a category of closest living relative, he or she gets all or part of your estate, depending on whether anyone else also falls within that same category. Persons who are in lower categories of relationship then generally receive nothing. Here is an example of a state's inheritance categories:

1. Spouse gets all assets if there are no children; if any children exist, spouse gets half and children divide the remaining half equally.
2. If there are no spouse or children, parents of the deceased divide all assets equally.
3. If there are no spouse, children, or parents, then brothers and sisters of the deceased divide all assets equally.
4. If there are no spouse, children, parents, or siblings, then grandparents or descendants of grandparents (that is, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.) divide all assets equally.
5. If there are no relatives in the first four classes, great-grandparents, or descendants of great-grandparents divide all assets equally.
6. If there are no relatives in the first five classes, relatives more distant than great-grandparents and their descendants divide all assets equally.
7. If no relatives can be found, the state gets your assets. If you die without a will and without any relatives, the state steps in to be your long-lost relative. If this happens, lawyers say that your property has escheated to the state. (Believe it or not, the word "escheat" comes from an old English property law concept, not from the word "cheat!")

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