Walk It Through: No Will
Land and personal property apart, a share set by who survives, and an affidavit after 30 days.
A man dies without a will, leaving his wife, their two children, a house and some savings.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
Two deaths in one family. Wills, an equitable distribution award after the death, and the affiant's duties after collecting 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.
- Equitable distributionThe court's division of marital and divisible property, equal by net value unless an equal division is not equitable.
- Intestate successionWho inherits when a person dies without a will. The surviving spouse's share is set separately for real property and for personal property, and in each case depends on who else survives.
- Collection by affidavitCollecting the personal property of a person who died without a will, worth not more than twenty thousand dollars less liens and encumbrances, without a personal representative being appointed. An heir, a creditor or the public administrator may do it at any time after 30 days from the date of death.