Intestacy laws are laws that govern inheritances and asset distributions of an estate when someone dies intestate, or without a will.
What you need to know
Intestacy laws govern what happens to someone's belongings, or estate, when someone passes away without a will.
Passing away without a will is knowing as dying intestate.
Intestacy laws change state by state, so contact your local probate clerk or government for specific information.
Intestacy laws typically follow the order known as next as kin.
Wills are designed to provide instructions for what to do with someone's stuff, or estate, when they die. But... 68% of Americans don't have wills, leaving many families without details when they pass away.
Intestacy laws are what govern distributions in the absence of a will, and they are essentially a default will.
Governments had to provide a back-up of sorts considering how many people pass without them, and these laws change depending on the state in which the deceased permanently resided (where they domiciled, more technically).
What to do when a loved one dies
When people die, they leave behind a life that must be closed out. Don't tackle it all alone. From planning the funeral to tackling the legal & financial estate, here's an ultimate checklist of all the things an executor needs to do following the loss of a loved one.
Learn moreJane passed away from breast cancer last month in Salem, North Carolina. While she knew she needed to make a will, she never got around to it. This means she passed intestate. After her three surviving children searched for a will but came up dry, they realized they needed to proceed through probate without a will. They elected Jack, the oldest child, to act as the executor. Because Jane didn't leave a will, they proceeded according to Salem's local intestacy laws.
North Carolina's intestacy laws state that real property and personal property generally be split equally among immediate heirs, or next of kin.
Jack and the other siblings, along with the help of the probate clerk and probate court, divided Jane's assets into probate and non-probate assets and distributed everything according to North Carolina's intestacy laws during probate.
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Nathan Phelps
Nathan is a Sr. Content Lead at Atticus and owner of Crafted Copy, a boutique copywriting and marketing shop based out of Nashville, TN. He has written hundreds of articles, white papers, and emails in industries like estate settlement, finance, and psychology, and his writing is read by millions of people across the internet each year.
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