What happens to my estate if I die intestate?

If someone dies in Arizona without having written a will, they are said to die "intestate". This means that the state of Arizona will step in and determine how the deceased person’s estate should be handled. Without a will, the laws of descent and distribution in Arizona control who is legally entitled to inherit the estate. These laws can be complex and are found in the Arizona Revised Statutes section 14-2102. In essence, these laws dictate that if the deceased person was survived by a spouse, the spouse gets all of the deceased person’s estate. If the deceased person was survived by a spouse and children, the spouse will receive the first $50,000 of the estate and then 1/3 of the remainder. The other 2/3 of the remainder of the estate would be divided equally between the deceased person’s children. If the deceased person was not survived by a spouse, the estate would be divided among the deceased person’s children. If the deceased person left no children, their estate would be inherited by their parents. If the deceased person left no parents either, then the estate would go to the deceased person’s brothers and sisters, or, if there are none, to the deceased person’s next of kin. If the deceased person lost all his or her relatives, the estate would then go to the state of Arizona. The intestacy laws in Arizona provide a framework for deciding who inherits a person’s estate if the person has not written a will. It is always recommended that a person creates a will to ensure that their estate is handled in the way they desire.

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What happens to my estate if I die intestate?

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