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Dying Intestate
Do you really
know what happens to your property if you die without a
will? (Click here and choose your state for the quick answer). Some common
misconceptions about what happens to your property when
you die without a will, or "intestate", include having
all of your property being given to charity
or to the state. Another common misconception, with more
serious consequences, is the belief that a surviving
spouse is always granted all or substantially all of the
deceased spouse's intestate estate. (Much about the
probate process is also misunderstood.)
In reality, much of the answer to these questions
about the distribution of intestate property depends upon where you permanently reside and which of
your family members are living at the time of your
death, as these will determine which
intestacy laws will
apply in order to determine the proper order of
intestate succession. Some other factors that affect
your intestate estate's distribution include how the
property is owned, where the property is located, and
even the family relationship that your living relatives
have with one another.
Making the answer to this question even more difficult
is the fact that every American state has its own laws
that determine who will own the property of every
intestate decedent and none of the states follow the
exact same system. What is possibly the most important
factor to understand is that these intestacy laws apply
to every person.
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With each state having its own unique laws, generalized
statements about the process are frequently inaccurate.
The complexity of these laws also makes written examples
difficult to understand, as well as inapplicable to most
people. Although these laws apply to everyone, it is
incredibly difficult to find real examples of how they
are applied.
Intestacy Calculators
For the first time, personally meaningful examples
of how the intestate laws operate can be found with
Kurt R. Nilson's
Intestacy Calculators™,
which are the first interactive programs that
interpret the laws of intestacy based upon
individual family and financial circumstances
entered by the user.
The complexity of each individual
Intestacy Calculator™ relies
upon each state's individual
intestacy laws. Some of the more interesting
Intestacy Calculators™ are
Arkansas,
California,
Missouri, and
Texas. However, as none of the states have the
same body of laws, none of the
Intestacy Calculators are the same and it is interesting to
try different states just to see the differences.
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