What will happen to your property if you die without having a will in place?
Choose from the categories below to see the consequences (title to all of your assets will pass immediately upon your death, subject, of course, to claims by your creditors).
- Single, no children, parents alive: mother and father each get ½ of the estate.
- Single, no children, one parent and at least one sibling: parent gets ½ of the estate, and the other ½ goes to the sibling(s).
- Single, no children, parents dead, and at least one sibling: estate is divided among the siblings.
- Single, no children, parents dead, no siblings: the estate is divided into two portions – one goes up into the father’s family tree, and the other goes up into the mother’s family tree.
- Single and have children: the children divide all of the estate.
- Married, no children: spouse gets all of the personal estate and ½ of the real estate. The other ½ of the real estate is left as above – parents, siblings, family tree.
- Married and have children: spouse gets 1/3 of the personal estate and the children get 2/3. Spouse gets an estate for life in 1/3 of the real estate, and the children take the remaining interest in real estate.
Don’t want to play the Intestacy Game? Give us a call at 972-784-0293 and we can advise you on wills, estate planning, trusts, powers of attorney and other ancillary documents.
Virginia Hammerle is a Board Certified Civil Trial Attorney by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and an Accredited Estate Planner by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. She can be contacted at legaltalktexas@hammerle.com. The information contained in this article is general information only and does not constitute legal advice. ©2016
