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4. If Someone Dies Without a Will, who is Entitled to Receive the Assets of the Estate? Does the State Take the Estate Away? One of the biggest misconceptions held about intestate succession, that is where an individual dies without a will, is that the state gets to take away all of the assets of the estate. The legal term is "Escheat". Where there is a will, the will designates the persons or the charities that are entitled to receive the decedent's estate. In a similar manner, the Probate Code of the State of California basically writes the will for the deceased person through the laws of intestate succession. For example, if the deceased was married and all the property was community property, the surviving wife would receive the entire estate under intestate succession. If the deceased was a widow or widower and had children, the law would provide that the children would split the estate equally. However, even though the decedent may have died without a will, the property must still go through probate. It is very important to note that a decedent may even write a will on a piece of paper that does not appear to be very formal. As long as the will is written entirely in the decedent's handwriting, is dated and is generally not witnessed, it may be considered to be a holographic will, which is every bit as legal and real as a formal will that has been prepared by an attorney and properly witnessed and signed by the decedent.

Copyright © 2002
by Nancy Pack-Rayman and Michael Norman Saleman
All rights reserved.