Family & Estate · Intestate Succession
Intestate Succession by State
Who inherits, and how much, when a person dies without a will, for each state, broken down by family situation. Cited to the statute.
Read this first: it depends on the family
There is no single answer to who inherits without a will. The split depends on who survives, a spouse, children, parents, and whether any children are from another relationship. So each state page is built around scenarios rather than one number. A surviving spouse with no children usually takes the whole estate; add children and the spouse shares.
The details differ sharply. New York gives the spouse the first $50,000 plus half; Pennsylvania the first $30,000 plus half, unless a child is from another relationship; Illinois splits it cleanly in half. California and Texas are community-property states, where the spouse already owns half the marital estate. All of this is only a default that a valid will replaces completely.
Every state in one table
The spouse-and-children share, the property system, and the statute in each row.
Community-property state (2)
| State | Spouse's share, no kids | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| California | Spouse keeps community property | Cal. Prob. Code §6401 |
| Texas | Spouse keeps shared community | Tex. Est. Code §201.001–§201.003 |
Common-law state (8)
| State | Spouse's share, no kids | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | Spouse all, or half with stepchildren | Fla. Stat. §732.102 |
| Georgia | Spouse shares equally, but never less than a third | O.C.G.A. §53‑2‑1 |
| Illinois | Spouse half, children half | 755 ILCS 5/2‑1 |
| Michigan | Spouse: first $150,000 base (indexed) plus a fraction | Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.2102 |
| New York | Spouse: first $50,000 + half | N.Y. Est. Powers & Trusts Law §4‑1.1 |
| North Carolina | Spouse takes a fraction, plus $60,000 of personal property | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 29‑14 |
| Ohio | Spouse takes all if every child is shared | Ohio Rev. Code §2105.06 |
| Pennsylvania | Spouse: first $30,000 + half | 20 Pa. C.S. §2102 |
What these pages are, and what they aren't
Each state page is a reference for the intestacy shares by family situation. They are deliberately not advice for your estate: adoptions, half-relatives, and prior wills change the answer, so each page links to the statute and a court or legal-aid resource. This is legal information, not legal advice.