Ask 2 Lawyers: Who gets the assets if a person dies without a Will?

Who gets the assets if a person dies without a will well this is a question that we do run across from time to time if somebody dies without a will or a trust and let's say there's a million-dollar house who's gonna get those assets Keith this is it first-come first-serve or how does that work no actually the California Probate Code has the rules intestate succession they call it and so if the person who owns that home isn't going to create their own will or trust then the state of California is going to create a default estate plan for them and that's the intestate statute and so the way these intestate statute works is first we have to determine is that home community property or separate property if we're talking about a married person and so if somebody's married in the pass away and they have community property then under the intestine Truls 100% of the community property will go to the surviving spouse if it's separate property then only a portion of the separate property will go to the surviving spouse either a half or a third depending on how many children there are and then the rest will go down to the children if there's no spouse and no children then the entire estate will pass up to parents and if there's no parents it goes to aunts and uncles and if there's no aunts and uncles it goes down to the aunt and uncle's children who would be the cousin of the decedent and we just keep working our way through the family tree and so hopefully we find some long-lost family member who's gonna get this estate and ultimately if there's nobody who gets then it goes to the state of California although you do have to go through quite a few steps of family members before the state of California is gonna take it but the ultimate recipient of your estate could be the state of California if you die without a will that's just the way the intestate statutes work in the state of California Albertson and Davidson is here to help you fight for your inheritance check out al devlog com for our complete library of helpful legal videos and articles from your favorite California trusts and we'll litigation law firm Albertson and Davidson LLP you.