What Happens to a Brooklyn Resident’s Property If They Die Without a Will?

By some accounts, only about one-quarter of all U.S. residents have made a last will and testament. Not surprisingly, will adoption tends to be significantly lower among younger people. And while nobody wants to think about death, it is important for everyone, regardless of age, to have a comprehensive estate plan that includes a legally executed will.

But what happens if you die without a will? If you live in Brooklyn or any other part of New York City, state law steps in and decides who will receive your property. This is known as New York’s intestacy laws. Below is a brief explanation of how these laws work.

Distributions to Surviving Spouses, Children, and Grandchildren

A person who inherits from an intestate estate in New York is known as a distributee. Distributees are family members who survived the deceased. It does not matter how close their relationship was in real life. In other words, an estranged child can still inherit from an intestate parent the same as another child who maintained a close bond with that same parent.

New York intestacy law first looks at whether the deceased was married and/or had children:

• If the deceased was married and had no children (or grandchildren or other descendants), then the surviving spouse inherits the entire estate.
• If the deceased was unmarried but had children, then the children inherit the entire estate.
• If the deceased was survived by both a spouse and children, then the spouse inherits the first $50,000 of the estate plus one-half of the balance; the children would then inherit the remaining one-half of the balance.

Now, if the deceased was survived by the children of predeceased children, those grandchildren would then inherit their deceased parent’s share. For example, let’s say Jeannette died without a will. She was unmarried when she died but had two children, Ryan and Susan, with her late husband. Susan survived Jeanette, so she inherits one-half of the estate. Ryan died before Jeanette, however, but left two children of his own, Philip and Carla. Under New York intestacy law, Phillip and Carla inherits the one-half share of Jeannette’s estate that would have gone to Ryan.

Distributions to Other Family Members

So how does New York intestacy law deal with a scenario where someone dies without a will and has no surviving children, grandchildren, or spouse? The next step would be to look for any surviving parents of the deceased, who would inherit the entire estate. If there are no surviving parents, then any siblings of the deceased would be the distributees.

In the rare case where a person dies without leaving a will or any surviving family members, the property in their estate would go to the State of New York.

Contact a Brooklyn Estate Planning Lawyer Today

Estate planning involves more than making a will, although that is a critical part of the process. Our Brooklyn estate planning lawyer can assist you in making sure that you have all the necessary legal documents to ensure that you, your family, and your property are properly protected. Contact Yeung & Associates, PLLC, today at 718-889-7568 to schedule a consultation.

Source:

nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/EPT/4-1.1