Walk It Through: After the Funeral
No will, a spouse and a child from an earlier marriage, a small bank account, and forty days.
A man dies with no will. He leaves a wife, their two children, and a son from an earlier marriage.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
An estate with no will. A contested will, an estate with debts larger than its property, and property held in joint tenancy are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- IssueA person's descendants, who take the part of an estate without a will that does not pass to a surviving spouse, ahead of the parents.
- Small estate affidavitA sworn statement a successor furnishes to collect a decedent's personal property worth $50,000 or less, with no real property, once 40 days have passed since the death.