It is said all people die with a will, either of their creation or their state's. Since property has to be distributed at the owner's death, every state has legal provisions in place to step in and take over the property distribution process if a decedent does not have a valid will.

A person who dies without a valid will dies intestate. Each state also has its intestate succession laws (known as laws of descent and distribution). When a person dies intestate, the decedent's property becomes part of his or her general estate to be distributed according to state succession laws. Intestacy laws generally stipulate that property will be distributed to surviving heirs in a programmed manner; that is, rarely does a state's intestacy law give surviving heirs the right to "haggle" over who-gets-what.

Copyright ONFS. Taken from ESTATEPLANNING PowerPoint Presentation, downloadable through ON-Net.

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