Also known as: statute of descent and distribution · statutes of descent · statute of descent · descent and distribution statutes · intestate succession statutes
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A statutory scheme directing the distribution of a decedent's estate to designated heirs when the decedent dies without a valid will. The scheme identifies the surviving spouse, children, and other next of kin as primary takers and fixes their shares according to the state's order of succession.
Elias died without a will while holding a rental house in his own name. Horizon Property Services continued collecting rents and signing leases after his death. Carla, Elias's niece and sole heir under the intestacy statute, claimed title in a quiet title action. Title passed to Carla by operation of law at the moment of death, vesting ownership in her even though no deed was ever executed.
After Scott Summers killed his father, the probate court applied the slayer rule to bar Summers from taking any share. The father's estate passed instead to Summers's siblings under the order of succession. The statutes of descent and distribution supplied the default distribution once the slayer was disqualified.
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Sarah Whiton received land under a devise that limited inheritance to heirs on her father's side. Upon her death without issue, the property passed only to those heirs under the governing descent rules. The statutes of descent and distribution enforced the lineal restriction rather than allowing passage to heirs on her mother's side.
No. The statutes govern only property that is not effectively disposed of by will. When a will validly devises real property, title passes by devise rather than by intestate succession.
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Most states bar a slayer from taking by descent or distribution. The property then passes to the next eligible heirs under the statutory order of succession.
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Wrongful death statutes designate the same heirs identified by statutes of descent and distribution as the beneficiaries of the action, even when the decedent left a will that disposes of the probate estate differently.
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Yes. Modern statutes of descent and distribution supply the surviving spouse with a share of the intestate estate as one of three layers of spousal protection that replaced common-law dower and curtesy.
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…the cases relied upon by Francisco. In interpreting the wrongful death statute, the unemployment compensation statutes, and the intestate succession statutes, the courts have declined to impute to the Legislature an intent to extend statutory benefits beyond the plain statutory terminology, i.e., the bright line of marriage.[^maj-5] In…