Interactive Programs:

Intestacy Calculators, Summary of State Laws, Federal Estate Tax Calculator, Per Stirpes Calculator

Written Information:

Interesting Intestacy Laws, Traditional Family Distribution, Blended Family Distribution,

Degrees of Kinship Chart, Expanded Calculator Views, State Intestacy Laws

These are the first interactive programs that interpret the laws of intestacy, as they apply to the unique and varied facts entered by individual users.  The interpretation is used to create a summary that includes the dollar value of the intestate estate that will be assigned to different individuals according to their relationship with the deceased and with each other.

To see how the intestate laws of an individual state will distribute the intestate property of any person, simply select the state of interest from the list below, enter a dollar amount, and begin answering questions until the distribution summary is automatically presented.

The fact that these Intestacy Calculators are so simple to use and provide results so quickly can be compared with the complexity of the laws they are interpreting to clearly demonstrate their effectiveness and utility.

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Perhaps the best examples of their usefulness may be shown by:

1) Using the actual written laws to determine an intestate distribution (For instance, New York has one of the more simplified distribution schemes.  Look up the New York statutes online and determine how a New Yorker's $1,500,000 estate will be divided when his closest living relations are a maternal grandmother, three paternal aunts and uncles, and five paternal first cousins by two deceased paternal aunts.)

2) The difficulty in finding examples of intestate distribution that tell you more than:

While these examples may have their use, they certainly don't apply to everyone and, even when they may apply, the user is still required to independently perform the mathematical calculations based upon his or her individual estate value without any guidance.  In contrast, the Intestacy Calculators show you how much will be given to your family members and with just a few clicks.

One of the most interesting facts revealed during the creation of the Intestacy Calculators is that every state in America uses a different set of intestacy laws.  Although there are certain similarities between some individual states, the actual application of the entire body of law for each state will always produce a result different from every other state.

This program allows users to select an individual point of law to reveal those states that apply that law in some respect.  Simply select a main topic of interest, which are categorized upon the basis of family relation and property.  Following this selection, further specifications of how the property may be distributed are shown and, upon selection, the states that apply that form of distribution with their individual intestacy laws are shown.

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An alternate program was considered, which would allow users to select a state by name, rather than by law.  However, selecting any state to see which other states share its intestacy law concepts did not seem to have much value, as it would require a further delineation of the exact laws of the subject state that are actually shared with any of the displayed states. 

For example, selecting "Arkansas" in this hypothetical program would result in "California, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming" which is misleading because, although Arkansas may share similar forms of intestate laws with California, they may not be the same laws that Arkansas shares with Delaware.  It is also possible that California and Delaware do not share any laws with each other, despite the fact that each state has intestate laws similar to those of Arkansas.

One of the greatest factors in determining the amount of federal estate tax that is due for any intestate estate is the value of that intestate estate that is transferred to a surviving spouse, if any.  All property transferred to a surviving spouse is deducted from the estate before calculating the amount of federal estate tax.

Otherwise, every person's federal estate tax is basically calculated upon the basis of all property that a person owns or has the right to control at death, without regard to who actually receives the property. 

Although all property not transferred to a spouse is subject to the tax, there is also a federal estate tax exemption that may be applied to all other amounts.  The standard federal estate tax exemption is basically a fixed dollar amount that every person can deduct from the estate before the amount of federal estate tax is calculated.  Unlike the marital deduction, this exemption is not based upon family relationship and is provided to every person.  Also unlike the marital deduction, this exemption is fixed dollar amount.

The federal estate tax has received a great deal of attention in recent years, as the applicable fixed dollar amount of the exemption has been periodically increasing  as part of the anticipated repeal of the federal estate during 2010. 

From now through December 31, 2008 $2,000,000 is exempted from the federal estate tax.  In 2009, the exempt amount increases to $3,500,000 and in 2010 the federal estate tax is repealed.

Although many of the individual Intestacy Calculators also include federal estate tax calculations, the Federal Estate Tax Calculator can be used for those that have not been updated.  If you are married, simply open the Intestacy Calculator for your state to see how much will be given to your spouse and use that figure with the Federal Estate Tax Calculator.

The Federal Estate Tax Calculator is also useful in determining the tax due against the intestate estate and the portion of the estate that passes outside of intestacy.  Because the estate tax is calculated against all property that is owned, it also includes property that passes by operation of law, such as property owned with the right of survivorship, which is frequently seen with real estate and joint bank accounts.