What Happens If You Die Without a Will in Texas?

Posted on | June 5, 2011 | No Comments

The State of Texas doesn’t take the property of someone dying without a Will. So, what are the results in Texas if you don’t have a Will. In Texas, the law dictates the way the assets of somebody dying without a Will are divided upon their death.
Should you die without a Will in Texas, you are said to have died intestate. Whenever someone dies intestate, Texas law determines the way the estate is going to be distributed by the Texas Probate Code. According to the Probate Code, the law draws a difference between separate and community property. The Probate Code defines separate property as any property owned by the deceased prior to being married and any property given to the deceased throughout their marriage or obtained by them such as an inheritance from another person. The Probate Code specifies community property as all property acquired or acquired throughout the marriage, other than property acquired by gift or inheritance. Texas law requires different divisions of separate property and community property depending on certain factors.

1. Married with Children. If all of your children are also the children of one’s current spouse, in that case your spouse will inherit your entire community property. Your children will inherit a two-thirds interest in each and every item of your separate property. The remainder one-third of each item of separate property will go to your spouse, but if the item is real estate, it returns to your children upon the death of your spouse.
For those who have children from a previous marriage, your children will inherit your entire half of the community property. Your wife or husband will keep her or his half of the community property. Your separate property will be distributed exactly the same way as in the previous paragraph.

2. No Spouse but Children. If someone dies without a spouse, but is survived by all of the children born to him or her during life, in that scenario, all of the property is divided equally between the children.

3. Spouse but No Children. If you don’t have any children, your spouse will inherit your entire community property. The spouse is entitled to the entire personal property and to one-half of the land of the Estate. The other half of the land would go to the father and mother of the deceased in equal portions. If only one parent survived the deceased, then that share of the land will be divided into equal portions, one passing to the surviving parent, and the other passing to the siblings of the deceased. If there have been no siblings, the complete share would pass to the parent. If no parent survived the deceased, and there were siblings, the entire share would pass to the siblings.

4. No Spouse or Children. Where an individual dies with no spouse and without children, the foregoing apply:

1. If both parents survive the decedent, then his or her estate passes to his father and mother, in equal portions;
2. If just one parent survives the deceased, then his or her estate is going to be divided into two equal portions, one of these will pass to the surviving parent, additionally , the other passes to the siblings of the deceased;
3. Having said that, if the decedent had no siblings, then all the separate property would pass to the sole surviving parent;
4. On the other hand, if neither parent is alive, but there are surviving siblings, then the whole estate passes to the siblings of the deceased;
5. Last of all, when there is no parent or sibling alive at the time of death of the decedent, the inheritance is split into two equal parts. One part is passed to the paternal kindred, and the other is passed to the maternal kindred, in the following msnner:
(a) To the grandfather and grandmother equal portions if both of them are living;
(b) If only one grandparent is living then the estate is split up into two equal parts an one part goes to the surviving grandparent and the other would go to the descendant or descendants of such deceased grandparent;
(c) If there is no surviving grandparent, then the whole of the estate would go to the descendants, and so forth without end, passing in like manner to the closest lineal ancestors and their descendants, but never to the State of Texas;

If you find yourself having a family member who dies with no Will, understand that should you or a family member die with no Will, the State of Texas doesn’t get your property, however the Texas Probate Code decides who does. However, it is important to contact a probate attorney that may help you figure out how the estate will be divided. Contact The Wright Firm, L.L.P. at (972) 353-4600 or at www.thewrightlawyers.com if you have questions about this article or if you find your family in this situation.

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