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 Intestacy Laws
"Intestacy" refers to any person who dies
without a valid Will, as well as to any of the deceased's property which
does not have instructions for its ownership.
Without a
valid Will,
North Carolina laws control who receives your property at death, as well as the
exact amount
that is given to each person.
These
"Intestacy Laws" are an attempt to distribute each person's property
in the manner that it
is believed most people would prefer, which is typically to the most closely
related living family members.
However, these laws are merely an assumption and the same distribution
pattern is applied
to all intestate property.
Married Couples
Many married
couples assume that each spouse's individually owned property will automatically
belong to the surviving spouse if either of them dies without a Will.
In actuality, these laws provide the surviving spouse with little more than
one-half of the deceased spouse's estate if the deceased has just one
child, grandchild, or even a great-grandchild. This amount is further
reduced to one-third if there are two or more children.
Specific Examples | Click
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Married Example
Assume that John, who is married to Susan, has
recently died with a $500,000 estate,
but without a Will. John
and Susan have one child, Jane, who is living at the time of John's death.
Although many people would assume that John's wife Susan is entitled to the
entire $500,000 of John's estate, she will in fact receive just $265,000.
Without a valid Will directing otherwise, John's
daughter Jane is entitled to receive the remaining $235,000 according to
North Carolina's Intestacy Laws.
Also note that John's personal relationship with Jane
or custody of Jane are not considered. Jane may also be wealthier than Susan, but these laws still grant Jane a portion of
John's estate simply because he did not have
a Will.
More Examples | Click Here
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North Carolina Intestacy
Calculator
The previous example, and many other possible scenarios,
are shown by our exclusive Intestacy Calculator.
Choosing different family scenarios can often
produce interesting and unanticipated results.
For instance, if John and Susan had two children in the above example, Susan would receive just $186,667 of the
$500,000 estate. These distributions become even more complicated when
there is real estate involved.
Our exclusive Intestacy Calculator evaluates
each of your answers to determine whether more information is needed and, if
so, which questions must be asked. With sufficient information, the
Intestacy Calculator automatically provides a summary of the dollar value
assigned to each person according to North Carolina's Intestacy Laws.
As you work through different fact patterns, you
may reset the calculator and begin again. Providing different answers
to the questions will produce different results.
You may freely use our Intestacy Calculator,
without any obligation, and learn about the many possibilities for the
distribution of an intestate estate under North Carolina's Intestacy Laws. Of
course, you cannot substitute this information for the advice of an
attorney.
Open the Intestacy Calculator
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