What to do if my husband just died without a Will and now his children from a previous marriage want to take everything?
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What to do if my husband just died without a Will and now his children from a previous marriage want to take everything?
All he owned in his name only was a truck, our home with a $25,000 mortgage and a few personal things. I am 58 years old and unemployed.
Asked on December 16, 2016 under Estate Planning, Georgia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
When there is no will, when a person dies, their property passes according to the law of "intestate succession" (the rules who for gets what when there is no will). In your state (every state sets its own rules), the surviving spouse and the descendents (children from a prior marriage) share or divide the assets equally, but your share (as spouse, cannot be less than 1/3): if it were you and one child, you each get half; you and two children, you each get 1/3; you and three or more children, you get 1/3, the children split the other 2/3. So to oversimplify: whatever the total value is (truck plus equity in home plus personal property), if there are at least two children, you get 1/3 that value, they get the rest. The court appointment personal representative for the estate (also called an administrator)--which will likely be you if you want the role and apply for it to the courts--will have the responsibility to oversee this.
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