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Heirs of Deceased Spouses
Typically when
the
decedent does not have any qualified living
heirs the intestate estate
escheats to the state.
A
minority of states (Arkansas, California, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri,
Nevada, Rhode Island, and Virginia) allow the heirs of the decedent's most
recently deceased spouse to take the decedent's intestate estate, before
allowing the same property to escheat. Of the nine states that allow this,
Missouri is the only state that divides the intestate estate among the heirs of
multiple predeceased spouses.
Arkansas, California, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Nevada, Rhode Island, and
Virginia
Alice
dies intestate in 2005 without any qualified living heirs and with two
predeceased spouses: Edward, who died in 2001, and Ralph, who died in 1998.
In these
circumstances, Edward's heirs will receive the intestate estate according to the
same rules used to determine Alice's qualified heirs. Ralph's heirs will
not receive any of the intestate estate. In fact, Ralph's heirs will not
receive the intestate estate even if Edward does not have any qualified heirs.
This rule only applies to the heirs of the most recent spouse who died while
still married to the decedent.
Missouri
Alice
dies intestate in 2005 without any qualified living heirs and with two
predeceased spouses: Edward, who died in 2001, and Ralph, who died in 1998.
(Same as above.)
In
Missouri, Alice's intestate estate will be divided among the heirs of both
Edward and Ralph. This division is not limited to only the two most recent
spouses, as shown by the underlined portion of this Missouri statute:
"If there
is no surviving spouse or kindred of the decedent entitled to inherit, the whole
shall go to the kindred of the predeceased spouse who, at the time of the
spouse's death, was married to the decedent, in like course as if such
predeceased spouse had survived the decedent and then died entitled to the
property, and if there is more than one such predeceased spouse, then to go
in equal shares to the kindred of each predeceased spouse."
The
Intestacy Calculator is limited to only two spouses for "cost-benefit" reasons.
The time required to set up more than two spouses is much greater than the
number of users with these circumstances. However, if you are interested
in knowing the division among more than two spouses, simply divide the intestate
by the total number of spouses and use the result in separate instances of the
Intestacy Calculator™.
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