Preparing and signing of Will is an important aspect of the whole process of the estate planning.

Why? Let’s imagine a scenario to help clarify:

Molly stated that she has an unmarried boyfriend. Her parents passed on and she has only a brother with whom she is not on speaking term. That sibling, however, has a son for instance that Molly has a crush for. Molly swears on her budget to pay for her nephew’s college tuition — she verbalizes this plan to at least two friends and several family members — but she dies before executing the Will. Irrespectively of the state that Molly lives in, her total assets would go to the alienated sibling with whom she does not even talk anymore. The only thing that Molly could have done differently on the matter is that she could have stated in the Will that she wanted her assets to be gifted to her nephew. Remember that intestacy laws or the lack of a Will are different for each state; however, we shall try our best to explain it in this guide.

Personal Planning- What Happens When One Dies Without a Will? Single Verses Married Verses Domestic Partnership

The above scenarios outline what could happen in cases where a person dies before preparing their Will, but to make the picture clearer let’s divide these scenarios according to the marital status of the deceased.

• Single: The following are some of the possibilities that may arise to you if you are single and you die without a Will. In the first the children would benefit from your entire estate unless provided otherwise in the Will. In the case you have no child, your parents if alive would be the ones to take the custody of your property. Last, your estate would go to your siblings (in equal ratio) if you have no issue and your parents are also deceased.

• Should you die with neither a spouse, children, siblings, or descendants of your siblings, that is, nieces and nephews then the family on your mother’s and father’s side would portion your property equally.

• Married: Essentially every state has an intestate redistribution scheme which provides that if you die without a Will your surviving spouse will receive a share of your property. Please remember that the legal requirements as to estates and the trusts are somewhat dissimilar from one state to the other and therefore your appointed personal estate planner. But holding community property, if married in Colorado with children and only your surviving spouse, your spouse gets 100 percent of your community property; the rest assets are split according to the laws of intestate succession. Where one has children from the previous unions, the half of the estate would be divided among those children while the other half would be given to the surviving cohabiting partner. Still, it is possible to find out that rough figures vary from state to state. For instance, the Tennessee law provides that the surviving spouse is entitled to one-third share of the estate while the remaining share goes to children.

• Domestic Partnership: However, not all the states in the United States have laws that acknowledge domestic partnerships, which is why it is necessary to be mindful of the laws in the specific state in as far as the division of an individual’s estates in the event of their demise is concerned. However, in majority of the states the domestic partner is privileged the equal status of a spouse depending on with how the property is held.

In The End

Going to Heaven without a Will causes the responsibility to bring a range or problems that affect the family member of the deceased. Please think of a Will like the voice you want to be heard when you’re no longer around. The fact is that if you set your goals in advance, you can indeed influence the development of your assets; and it’s not so difficult to start! While every state’s law is designed to do what’s in the best interest of a descendent, the only way to avoid your assets falling into the wrong person’s hands is by prioritizing your estate planning today. At The Law Firm of Tammy W. Akers, LLC, an Estate Planning Attorney in Colorado is here to help keep things simple. You can create a fully customizable, state-specific estate plan from the comfort of your own home. Take our free quiz to see where you should get started, or compare our different estate planning options today!

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