Dying with (maybe) no heirs

Factual Questions
1

I’m sure this varies from state to state (or country to country but let’s stick to the US). And I’m not seeking legal advice, just general information.

Suppose someone dies with no will. Further there is only one person who is claims to be a relative, and the relationship can be proven without a doubt. Is there any limit on how close a relative the person must be to inherit? I’m interested in direct descent as well as non direct.

I’m assuming any degree of direct descent (great-great-great-…-grandson) is OK. I realize now unusual it would be for only this one descendant to be alive. It’s just theoretical.

The question I’m more interested in is how far “back up” you can go. Can a second, third, fourth, etc. cousin inherit?

2

It’s a matter of state law, but it usually only goes back to your grandparents.

3

Yes I understand it’s state law. Do you mean by goes back to your grandparents that if your grandparents weren’t alive any heir of theirs would inherit? If the single relation was your first cousin or your first cousin’s child would they be eligible?

4

The estate does not pass down through all the distant relatives. Without a claim by an immiate family member, the estate becomes property of the state. The cousin has no legal claim without a clear will.

5

The term is “degrees of consanguinity” – the legal definition of the common-sense idea that wife and children inherit before parents and siblings, they before grandparents and aunts/uncles, etc.

As you suggest, the answer varies by jurisdiction, but I recall reading that second cousin is the farthest degree of relationship considered in intestacy in most jurisdictions. (A willl leaving something to one’s nearest relative would require finding such a relative, no matter how far removed.)

Most states’ Departments of Law (or whatever they call what the Attorney General heads) have an office that can easily answer uch a question for your state.
(Oh. and IANAL, the above is not legal advice, it’s a generalization drawn from memories of past reading – consult somebody local who knows your state law, and all that stuff.)

6

The Illinois statute on descent and distribution (the intestacy statute) directs the following:

[QUOTE=755 ILCS 5/2-1]

Section 2-1. Rules of descent and distribution. The intestate real and personal estate of a resident decedent and the intestate real estate in this State of a nonresident decedent, after all just claims against his estate are fully paid, descends and shall be distributed as follows:

(a) If there is a surviving spouse and also a descendant of the decedent: 1/2 of the entire estate to the surviving spouse and 1/2 to the decedent’s descendants per stirpes.

(b) If there is no surviving spouse but a descendant of the decedent: the entire estate to the decedent’s descendants per stirpes.

(c) If there is a surviving spouse but no descendant of the decedent: the entire estate to the surviving spouse.

(d) If there is no surviving spouse or descendant but a parent, brother, sister or descendant of a brother or sister of the decedent: the entire estate to the parents, brothers and sisters of the decedent in equal parts, allowing to the surviving parent if one is dead a double portion and to the descendants of a deceased brother or sister per stirpes the portion which the deceased brother or sister would have taken if living.

(e) If there is no surviving spouse, descendant, parent, brother, sister or descendant of a brother or sister of the decedent but a grandparent or descendant of a grandparent of the decedent: (1) 1/2 of the entire estate to the decedents maternal grandparents in equal parts or to the survivor of them, or if there is none surviving, to their descendants per stirpes and (2) 1/2 of the entire estate to the decedent’s paternal grandparents in equal parts or to the survivor of them, or if there is none surviving, to their descendants per stirpes If there is no surviving paternal grandparent or descendant of a paternal grandparent, but a maternal grandparent or descendant of a maternal grandparent of the decedent: the entire estate to the decedent’s maternal grandparents in equal parts or to the survivor of them, or if there is none surviving, to their descendants per stirpes If there is no surviving maternal grandparent or descendant of a maternal grandparent, but a paternal grandparent or descendant of a paternal grandparent of the decedent: the entire estate to the decedent’s paternal grandparents in equal parts or to the survivor of them, or if there is none surviving, to their descendants per stirpes

(f) If there is no surviving spouse, descendant, parent, brother, sister, descendant of a brother or sister or grand parent or descendant of a grandparent of the decedent: (1) 1/2 of the entire estate to the decedent’s maternal great-grandparents in equal parts or to the survivor of them, or if there is none surviving, to their descendants per stirpes and (2) 1/2 of the entire estate to the decedent’s paternal great-grand parents in equal parts or to the survivor of them, or if there is none surviving, to their descendants per stirpes If there is no surviving paternal great-grandparent or descendant of a paternal great-grandparent, but a maternal great-grandparent or descendant of a maternal great-grandparent of the decedent: the entire estate to the decedent’s maternal great, grandparents in equal parts or to the survivor of them, or if there is none surviving, to their descendants per stirpes If there is no surviving maternal great-grandparent or descendant of a maternal great-grandparent, but a paternal greatgrandparent or descendant of a paternal great-grandparent of the decedent: the entire estate to the decedents paternal great-grandparents in equal parts or to the survivor of them, or if there is none surviving, to their descendants per stirpes.

(g) If there is no surviving spouse, descendant, parent, brother, sister, descendant of a brother or sister, grandparent, descendant of a grandparent, great-grandparent or descendant of a great-grandparent of the decedent: the entire estate in equal parts to the nearest kindred of the decedent in equal degree (computing by the rules of the civil law) and without representation.

(h) If there is no surviving spouse and no known kindred of the decedent: the real estate escheats to the county in which it is located; the personal estate physically located within this State and the personal estate physically located or held outside this State which is the subject of ancillary administration of an estate being administered within this State escheats to the county of which the decedent was a resident, or, if the decedent was not a resident of this State, to the county in which it is located; all other personal property of the decedent of every class and character, wherever situate, or the proceeds thereof, shall escheat to this State and be delivered to the Director of Financial Institutions of the State pursuant to the Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act. In no case is there any distinction between the kindred of the whole and the half blood.
[/QUOTE]

For the purposes of your question, subsections (g) and (h) are the key. Subsection (g) provides that if none of the designated relatives can be found, if any other relative can be found, he (and all other equally near kindred) will take. Only if there are no known relatives will the estate escheat.

Another thing to note is that if you had relatives of any of the named types (i.e., up through great-grandparents) but they predeceased you, their descendants, if any, will take per stirpes.

So to recap, in Illinois, an estate will escheat only if (1) it does not go to any of the relatives specified in (a)-(f) or their descendants and (2) the existence of no other relatives is known.

Of course, estates escheat all the time. Why is this? These estates tend to be small and their decedents tend to be reclusive. Thus, the amount of effort it takes to find an estate one can claim (a practice known in probate law as “fortune hunting”) is a good deal more than the value of the estate it turns up.

7

For a while, my wife worked for a law firm in California. Their whole business was to identify estates without any heirs and then do immense amounts of genealogical homework to find some. They would then contact these potential heirs, offer to represent them for a percentage and laugh all the way to the bank. (Well, my wife was the lowly one doing the research… there wasn’t much laughing in her department).

In any event, they could go back and across on the family tree. Cousins (and even more distant relatives) did wind up inheriting money from people they’d never even heard about.

8

Just for a moment, I thought this thread was about ‘dyeing with no hairs’…

Carry on.

9

New York Estates, Powers and Trusts Law 4-1.1 provides who inherits when someone dies intestate (without heirs). Subsections (a)(6) & (7) cover the most distant relatives who may inherit:

(6) One or more grandparents or the issue of grandparents (as hereinafter defined), and no spouse, issue, parent or issue of parents, one-half to the surviving paternal grandparent or grandparents, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation, and the other one-half to the surviving maternal grandparent or grandparents, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation; provided that if the decedent was not survived by a grandparent or grandparents on one side or by the issue of such grandparents, the whole to the surviving grandparent or grandparents on the other side, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation, in the same manner as the one-half. For the purposes of this subparagraph, issue of grandparents shall not include issue more remote than grandchildren of such grandparents.

(7) Great-grandchildren of grandparents, and no spouse, issue, parent, issue of parents, grandparent, children of grandparents or grandchildren of grandparents, one-half to the great-grandchildren of the paternal grandparents, per capita, and the other one-half to the great-grandchildren of the maternal grandparents, per capita; provided that if the decedent was not survived by great-grandchildren of grandparents on one side, the whole to the great-grandchildren of grandparents on the other side, in the same manner as the one-half.Parsing out the statutory language, what this means is that if you die a New York resident without a will and no closer relatives, the property will pass to your first cousins, or at most, the children of your first cousins. If you don’t have any first cousins or children of first cousins, the property passes to the state.

10

So if no one claims it the money automatically reverts to the State if you don’t have an executor?

What I mean, is, say you don’t have a will. You die, and you do have an heir (a child) who doesn’t make a claim. Does the money/whatever still go to the kid or does it go to the State?

11

The estate administrator (=executor, but a different term is used because there’s no will to execuite) is obliged to try to find heirs up to s point – certainly an adult child who had moved away is well before that point.
(Opinion comment) – I get the impresssion that states by and large don’t like escheats, because the relatively small amounts they get from them are not worth the bad image as “the state taking some old man’s life savings at his death.” State treasurers, comptrollers, etc., will put effort into helping find heirs.

12

What do you mean by “doesn’t make a claim”? Do you mean (i) is unaware of the death and/or the entitlement to the estate, or (ii) refuses to take.

If (i), the former DuPage County Public Administrator had a nice write-up of what he does in the DuPage County Bar Association’s Journal:

[Quote=Paul Didzerekis (from the above linked article)]
Typically, the Public Administrator’s office is notified by the Coroner, a Hospital or Nursing Home of the death of someone who apparently has no known heirs. Upon such notification the Public Administrator will file a Petition for Letters of Office and a Petition for Authorization to make burial arrangement and to pay those expenses from the assets of the estate. Concurrently, the Public Administrator will go to the residence of the decedent and secure the property and pursuant to the burial authority the Public Administrator will make burial (or in some cases, cremation) arrangement. A memorial or religious service may be arranged, depending upon the circumstances.

The next step is to begin a search of the decedent’s residence to attempt to find any will or trust, cash or other evidence of assets and any address book of the decedent. A postal address change is ordered and a FEIN is obtained for the estate. A search for heirs will follow, but usually genealogical search firms will have begun their searches for heirs immediately after the Petition for Letters of Administration have been filed showing that there are unknown heirs. These firms will contract with heirs that they locate for a percentage of the heir’s share of the estate before they tell the heirs where their inheritance may be. I understand that these firms charge anywhere from 20% to 50% for their services.

After it is determined what assets and debts the decedent had and publication has been made the next step is to liquidate the assets, pay the bills, wait out the claims period, file income and possible estate tax returns, file an accounting and close the estate. If heirs have been found the remaining assets, after payment of the costs of administration, will be paid to them or, if heirs remain unfound, their share will be deposited with the County Treasurer in their name for retrieval by them at some future date.
[/Quote]

If (ii), an heir who renounces his share is treated as predeceasing the decedent. Thus, if the child had descendants of his own, they would take by representation, just as they would if one were survived only by one’s grandchildren. If the heir renounces and he has no descendants nor are there any other relatives, then the estate escheats.

13

Like this:

My mother dies, after having survived her husband. I am not in her will because she does not have a will. She doesn’t have an executor or anything. There are no other children. I know she’s died but make no move to claim anything of hers.

What happens to her money?

I ask because she is very concerned about her money. She does not want it going to the State. If she doesn’t want me to have the money, fine, but I want her to write out a Will to that effect and detail where she wants it to go.

14

First things first:

Note: I am not your lawyer and this message is for general information purposes only. Nothing in this message is to be considered as either creating an attorney-client relationship or as rendering of legal advice for any specific matter. You are responsible for obtaining such advice from your own legal counsel. No reader should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information contained in this message without seeking appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue.

But I can tell you that, in general, you, as her child, would have priority in being named the administrator by the court, if you petitioned to do so. If not, the Public Administrator would do so–and charge the estate for the services. In this latter case, the Public Administrator would identify the heirs (i.e., you) and give them their shares of the estate. If you are an only child and have survived your mother and her last spouse, you take your mother’s entire estate if she dies intestate.

Again, whether this represents optimal estate planning for your family or not is quite beyond the scope of my participation in this thread. There are a variety of approaches to handle the disposition of property at death, each with advantages and disadvantages. Consulting an attorney is recommended.