What Happens If You Die Without a Will in California?
What happens if you die without a will in California is that the Probate Code decides who inherits your property. Your spouse or registered domestic partner, your children, and then more distant relatives inherit in a fixed order. A judge cannot change that order. The state takes your property only when no qualifying relative survives you.
Gold Law, A Professional Corporation, has prepared estate plans for Ventura County families from its Camarillo office since 1998. The firm drafts wills, living trusts, powers of attorney, and special needs plans, and it guides families through guardianships and trust administration. Owner and Managing Attorney Mahvesh “Marissa” Garcia serves on the board of the Ventura County Bar Association’s Estate Planning and Probate Section.
If you have never signed a will, or you are settling a parent’s estate, call Gold Law at (805) 388-8800 to schedule an appointment.
What It Means to Die Without a Will in California
Dying without a will does not mean dying without a plan. It means California supplies one, and the statute cannot know what you wanted. The estate planning attorneys at Gold Law in Camarillo replace those default rules with a signed, written plan that states your own choices.
A will does three things the statute cannot. It can leave a specific item to a specific person, such as the house to one daughter or a ring to a niece. A will can also nominate a guardian for minor children and name the executor, the person who gathers your property and pays your bills. Consider a Camarillo widower who always told his daughter the house would be hers but never wrote it down. When he dies, his son inherits an equal half of that house under the statute.
Intestate and Intestate Succession Explained in Plain English
The legal term for dying without a valid will is intestate, and intestate succession is the set of rules that decides who inherits in that situation. The California Courts self-help guide to property after someone dies describes these as the laws that say who inherits when a person had no will or trust. These rules begin at Probate Code section 6400, which also governs any property a will fails to dispose of. A person who inherits under these rules is called an heir.
What the State Does and Does Not Do
California does not take an estate because the owner never signed a will. The state’s role is procedural. A probate judge appoints someone to administer the estate, supervises the payment of debts, and orders distribution to the heirs the statute names. In Ventura County, every probate matter is filed and heard at the Juvenile and Probate Courthouse in Oxnard, usually in Courtroom J6, according to the Ventura County Superior Court probate division. New probate estate petitions are set on Thursday mornings.
Without a will, the court appoints an administrator using the priority list in Probate Code section 8461. A surviving spouse or domestic partner comes first, followed by children, grandchildren, parents, and siblings. Before the court issues letters, the document that gives the administrator authority to act, the administrator generally must post a bond under section 8480. Only a written waiver from every heir under section 8481 removes that requirement, while a will could have waived it in one sentence. The property, the heirs, and the court calendar each shape the course of probate administration in Camarillo.
When Property Escheats to the State and Why It Is Rare
Escheat is the legal term for property passing to the state because no one is entitled to inherit it. Probate Code section 6404 applies the escheat rules only when no one qualifies to inherit under the intestacy statutes. The 120-hour survival rule in section 6403 also does not apply when it would send property to the state. Even after an escheat judgment, Code of Civil Procedure section 1355 generally gives a person with a valid claim five years to petition for the property.
When the Ventura County Public Administrator Steps In
Sometimes relatives exist, but no one comes forward because they live out of state, are estranged, or do not know the person died. The Ventura County Public Administrator, part of the County of Ventura Human Services Agency, administers estates of Ventura County residents when no one else is willing or able to act. Under Probate Code section 7620, a public administrator petitions to serve when no one with higher priority has petitioned and the estate is worth more than $150,000. The heirs still inherit, but they no longer choose who manages the process.
Assets That Pass Outside the Will
Much of what people own passes by contract or by the way title is held, whether or not there is a will. Life insurance and retirement accounts pass to the beneficiary named on the account form, and a payable on death bank account passes directly to the named payee. Real estate held in joint tenancy passes to the surviving joint tenant. Community property with right of survivorship passes to the surviving spouse without administration under Civil Code section 682.1. Property titled in a funded living trust follows the terms of the trust. A revocable transfer on death deed passes the property it names, and Probate Code section 5600 sets that statute to expire on January 1, 2032, unless the Legislature extends it.
An outdated beneficiary form is a common gap. A form that names someone who died first, or names no one, can send an account back into the estate. Intestacy governs only what these forms and titles leave behind.
How California Intestate Succession Decides Who Inherits
Probate Code sections 6401 and 6402 set the order of inheritance. The surviving spouse or registered domestic partner takes a share first. Everything else passes down the family line in a fixed sequence, and each group inherits only if no one in the group ahead of it survives.
A widowed Camarillo retiree who dies with no will and two grown children leaves everything to the children in equal shares. If she had no children, her estate would go to her parents, or to her brothers and sisters if her parents had died.
The Statutory Order From Spouse to Distant Relatives
After the spouse’s share is set aside, section 6402 names who takes the rest. Children and their descendants inherit first, followed by parents, then brothers and sisters, then grandparents and their descendants, including aunts, uncles, and cousins. Beyond them, the statute turns to the family of a late spouse and to more distant next of kin. Adopted children count the same as children by birth under Probate Code section 6450. That section also says a child inherits from a natural parent whether or not the parents were married to each other.
Half Siblings Inherit the Same Share as Full Siblings
Many families assume a half brother receives less than a full brother, but California law makes no such distinction. Probate Code section 6406 gives relatives of the half blood the same share as relatives of the whole blood, subject to a narrow adoption exception in section 6451. When a man with no spouse, children, or living parents dies, his full sister and his half brother share his estate equally.
Why an Heir Must Survive by 120 Hours
Probate Code section 6403 treats an heir who does not survive the decedent by 120 hours as having died first. If survival for that period cannot be shown by clear and convincing evidence, the law assumes the heir did not survive. The rule keeps an inheritance from passing through the estate of someone who outlived the decedent by only a few hours.
How Shares Are Divided Among Children and Grandchildren
When all the children are alive, they share equally. When a child died first and left children, California does not follow the strict per stirpes method, which always divides an estate at the children’s generation. Probate Code section 240 starts the division at the nearest generation with a living member. Each living member of that generation takes one share, and the share of each member who died leaving descendants passes to those descendants.
Suppose a Camarillo widow had three children, and one son died first, leaving two daughters. The estate splits into thirds, and the two granddaughters divide their father’s third, one sixth each. If all three children had died before her, leaving five grandchildren, section 240 would start at the grandchildren’s generation and all five would share equally. Under Probate Code section 6409, a lifetime gift to one child counts against that child’s share only if the parent or the child said so in writing.
Where a Registered Domestic Partner Fits and Where an Unmarried Partner Does Not
A registered domestic partner stands in the same place as a spouse, because Family Code section 297.5 gives a surviving registered partner the same rights as a widow or widower. Probate Code section 37 defines a domestic partner as someone who filed a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the California Secretary of State. An unmarried partner who never registered receives nothing under the intestacy statutes, no matter how many years the couple shared a home. If the house was titled in the deceased partner’s name alone, it passes to that partner’s children, parents, or siblings. Couples who never married or registered provide for each other through a written plan or through the way they title property.
Why Community Property and Separate Property Follow Different Rules
How each asset is classified decides what a surviving spouse receives. Community property is what either spouse earns or acquires during the marriage while living in California. Separate property is what a spouse owned before the marriage or received as a gift or inheritance. Probate Code section 6401 treats the two very differently when one spouse dies without a will.
The surviving spouse already owns one half of the community property under Probate Code section 100, and section 6401 gives the survivor the deceased spouse’s half as well. Children, parents, and siblings share only in the separate property. Consider a Camarillo couple who bought their home during the marriage. The wife also owns a rental in Santa Paula that she inherited from her father. If she dies without a will and leaves two children, her husband takes the whole house but only one third of the rental. The children share the other two thirds.
How California Classifies Property Acquired During Marriage
Family Code section 760 presumes that property a married person acquires during the marriage while living in California is community property. That includes wages, a house bought with those wages, and retirement contributions made during the marriage, no matter whose name is on the paycheck or the title. Quasi-community property, defined in Probate Code section 66, is property the deceased spouse acquired while living in another state that would have been community property in California. A couple who retired to Camarillo from Illinois may hold this kind of property, and section 6401 gives the surviving spouse the deceased spouse’s half of it.
How Property Owned Before the Marriage or Received by Inheritance Is Treated
Family Code section 770 defines separate property as anything owned before the marriage and anything received during the marriage by gift, bequest, devise, or descent. Bequest and devise mean gifts made in a will, and descent means inheriting without one. Rents and profits from separate property also remain separate, so a condo you owned before your wedding and the rent it earns generally stay separate.
Why Commingled Accounts Create the Hardest Questions
Commingling means mixing separate money with community money in one account, as when a spouse deposits an inheritance into a joint checking account that also receives paychecks and pays household bills. The 1975 California Supreme Court decision In re Marriage of Mix held that mixing alone does not turn separate money into community money if the amount can be traced. The difficulty is proving it after the person who knew the history has died.
What Tracing Means When No One Kept Records
Tracing is the method for proving which dollars in a mixed account were separate. Without it, the community presumption in Family Code section 760 controls, and the money is treated as community property. Direct tracing, which the Mix decision approved, follows specific separate dollars through the account and into a purchase. The family expense method from See v. See (1966) presumes that family living costs are paid from community income first. Under that method, money that remained after family expenses used up the community income can be shown to be separate. Both methods depend on records. In See, the court would not accept a rough summary of income and spending over the whole marriage when better records could have been kept.
How a Spousal Property Petition Settles the Survivor’s Share
A surviving spouse does not always need a full probate to receive property. Probate Code section 13500 says property passing to the surviving spouse under section 6401 passes without administration. Section 13650 lets the survivor file a spousal property petition asking the court to confirm what belongs to the survivor. Commingling questions often arise in that petition, because the court decides whether each asset is community or separate before confirming it.
Who Inherits First When a Married Person Dies Without a Will
For a married person, the answer depends on the kind of property and on which relatives survive. Community property and quasi-community property go entirely to the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner. The spouse’s share of separate property depends on which children, parents, or siblings survive.
Consider a remarried Ventura County homeowner who bought his Oxnard house years before his second marriage, so the house is his separate property. If he dies without a will and leaves two adult children from his first marriage, his second wife receives one third of the house. His children share the other two thirds. Few families would choose to make a widow and her stepchildren co-owners of one home, but the statute does.
A Surviving Spouse With No Children
With no descendants, Probate Code section 6401(c)(1) gives the spouse all the separate property only if no parent, brother, sister, or descendant of a deceased brother or sister survives. If any of them survives, section 6401(c)(2) reduces the spouse’s share of separate property to one half. The other half goes to the parents, or to the siblings and their children if the parents have died.
A Surviving Spouse With One Child
With one child, section 6401(c)(2) divides the separate property evenly between the spouse and the child. The same split applies when the only child died first and left children, because those grandchildren take their parent’s place. Community property still goes entirely to the spouse, so the child receives none of it on the first death.
A Surviving Spouse With Two or More Children
With two or more children, the spouse’s share of separate property drops to one third under section 6401(c)(3), and the children share the remaining two thirds. The same one-third share applies when one child survives along with the children of a child who died first. It also applies when grandchildren from two or more deceased children survive.
How the Default Rules Affect Blended Families
In most cases, a stepchild is not a child for intestacy purposes. When the surviving spouse in a blended family later dies, what the survivor received usually passes to the survivor’s own relatives rather than to the stepchildren. Two narrow statutes soften that result, and both depend on facts that are hard to prove years later.
When Stepchildren Can Inherit Under Section 6454
Probate Code section 6454 treats a stepchild as a child for intestacy only when two conditions are met. The relationship must have begun while the stepchild was a minor and continued throughout their joint lifetimes. It must also be shown by clear and convincing evidence that the stepparent would have adopted the stepchild but for a legal barrier, such as a living birth parent who would not consent.
How a Late Spouse’s Family Can Inherit Under Section 6402.5
Probate Code section 6402.5 applies when a widowed person dies without a will and leaves no spouse and no descendants. Real property attributable to a spouse who died within the prior 15 years goes to that late spouse’s children. Personal property follows the same path when the late spouse died within the prior five years. Consider a Camarillo widow whose husband died eight years ago and left children from his first marriage. On her death, the part of her real property that came from him can pass to his children instead of to her own sister. The heir who claims personal property under this rule must prove exactly which property qualifies.
What Happens When There Is No Surviving Spouse or Children
Without a spouse or descendants, the estate passes to more distant relatives. If both parents survive, they share equally under section 6402(b), and if only one survives, that parent takes the entire estate. If neither survives, the estate passes to brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews, and then to grandparents and their descendants.
Consider a single Camarillo retiree, an only child with no children of her own, whose parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles have all died. Her closest living relatives are three first cousins, including one in Arizona she has not spoken to in twenty years. With no will, those three cousins share her estate equally, and the neighbor who drove her to every appointment inherits nothing.
How Representation Passes a Share Down a Branch
Representation is the rule that lets a descendant stand in the place of a relative who died first. Suppose a man dies leaving one living sister and two nephews from a brother who died earlier. The sister takes one half, and the nephews share the other half. If both siblings had died first, all the nieces and nephews would share equally, because division under section 240 starts at their generation.
The End of the Statutory Line
When no grandparent or descendant of a grandparent survives, the statute looks outside the bloodline. Section 6402(e) sends the estate to the descendants of a spouse who died earlier. After them, section 6402(f) reaches next of kin, measured by degree of kinship under Probate Code section 13. That section counts generations, so siblings are related in the second degree and first cousins in the fourth. The last category, under section 6402(g), is the parents of a predeceased spouse and their descendants. Proving who fits each category often requires an heir search and a documented family tree.
Who Raises Your Minor Children If You Never Named a Guardian
For parents of young children, the more difficult question is who raises them. When one parent dies, the surviving parent normally keeps custody. A guardianship becomes necessary when both parents have died or neither can care for the child. A will is where a parent nominates a guardian, and a parent who dies without one leaves the choice of a guardian for a minor child to a judge.
Consider Camarillo parents who both die within a short time of each other, leaving children ages seven and ten. One set of grandparents lives in Moorpark, the other lives in Sherman Oaks, and both want the children. Probate Code section 2201 normally places the case in the county where the children live, and the Ventura County Superior Court sets guardianship petitions with an estate on Fridays at 9 a.m. Without a written nomination, the court weighs each proposal on facts its investigator gathers.
How a Guardian Nomination in a Will Works
Probate Code section 1500 lets a parent nominate a guardian of the person, a guardian of the estate, or both. The nomination works when the other parent has died, lacks capacity, or consents to the same choice. Section 1502 allows the nomination in a signed writing that takes effect only on a stated condition, such as the parent’s death, and a will is the usual place for it. The court must give due weight to a nomination for guardian of the person under Family Code section 3043. For guardian of the estate, Probate Code section 1514(c) goes further and requires the court to appoint the nominee unless that person is unsuitable.
What a Judge Does When No One Was Nominated
Without a nomination, the judge applies the custody preferences in Family Code section 3040, which Probate Code section 1514 brings into guardianship cases. After the parents, that statute prefers the person in whose home the child has been living in a wholesome and stable environment. After that, the court can appoint any other suitable person.
A relative or friend files a petition. Probate Code section 1511 requires notice at least 15 days before the hearing to the parents, to the child if 12 or older, and to the relatives named in the petition. When the proposed guardian is a relative, Probate Code section 1513 assigns the investigation to a court investigator, who interviews the family and files a report unless the court waives it for good cause. The judge then decides based on the child’s best interest and may appoint a temporary guardian if the need is urgent.
Guardian of the Person and Guardian of the Estate
A guardian of the person and a guardian of the estate hold separate roles, and one person does not automatically hold both. The guardian of the person handles the child’s daily life, including housing, school, and medical care. A guardian of the estate, by contrast, manages money and property the child owns, such as an inheritance or life insurance proceeds. The California Courts self-help guide says a guardianship of the estate is needed when a child has a lot of money or property. A parent who dies without a will often leaves a child an intestate share outright, which creates that need.
Why Money Left to a Minor Needs Its Own Structure
A child cannot legally manage an inheritance. Under Probate Code section 3401, property can be given to a parent to hold for a minor only when the child’s total estate is $5,000 or less. For a larger estate, section 3413 lets the court order money into an insured account that releases funds only with court approval. The court can also direct it to a custodian under the California Uniform Transfers to Minors Act or appoint a guardian of the estate. Under Probate Code section 1600, a guardianship ends when the child turns 18, and the child then takes control of the money.
How the Oxnard Court Supervises a Guardian of the Estate
A guardian of the estate works under court supervision for as long as the guardianship lasts. Probate Code section 2320 requires a court-approved bond before letters issue, sized mainly by the estate’s personal property and expected yearly income. Section 2620 requires an accounting one year after appointment and at least every two years after that. In Ventura County, the court hears those inventories and status reports at the Juvenile and Probate Courthouse in Oxnard on Tuesday mornings. A trust written into a will or a living trust can instead place that money with a trustee you choose, under terms you set.
How an Estate Planning Attorney in Camarillo Replaces the State Default Plan
A written plan replaces the state’s default rules with your own choices. It usually pairs a will or trust with financial and health care powers of attorney, which work while you are still alive. For most families, the goal is control over who inherits, who manages the money, and who raises the children.
Consider again the remarried Oxnard homeowner. With a signed plan, he could let his wife live in the home for her lifetime and leave it to his children afterward. Whether that structure fits depends on his finances and his family. Gold Law’s estate planning and trust attorneys serving Ventura County meet with families from every city in the county at the Camarillo office.
What a Will Fixes That the Statute Cannot
A will lets you name people rather than categories, so you choose who inherits and in what shares. It can also waive the executor’s bond. Under Probate Code section 6110, a formal will must be signed and witnessed by two people present at the same time. Drafting a California will with those formalities helps keep its validity from becoming a question later. Gold Law also helps families decide between a trust versus will in California when both could work.
When a Trust Belongs in the Plan Too
Property that passes under a will usually goes through probate, unless it passes to a surviving spouse or a small estate procedure applies. Property held in a funded living trust is usually administered without a probate case by a successor trustee, the person you name to take over the trust. A trust also keeps the family’s inventory out of a public court file and lets the trustee act without waiting for a hearing date. A living trust in Camarillo is normally paired with a pour-over will that sends anything left outside the trust into it.
What to Bring to a First Estate Planning Appointment
A first appointment is more productive when you bring your paperwork. Useful items include the grant deed for each property, recent statements for bank, brokerage, and retirement accounts, and current beneficiary forms. Bring any older will, trust, or power of attorney you signed, even if you think it is out of date. Note the people you would choose as executor, trustee, and guardian, along with any child or grandchild with special needs, any prior marriage, and any property in another state.
Questions About What Happens If You Die Without a Will in California
Ventura County families often ask these follow-up questions once they understand the basic order of inheritance. Each answer is general information about California law.
Your own facts, including how property is titled and who survives, can change the result. A lawyer applies these rules only after reviewing those facts.
Can a Small Estate Skip Probate When There Is No Will?
In some cases, a small estate can avoid a full probate case. For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, heirs can use a small estate affidavit when the estate is worth $208,850 or less, once 40 days have passed since the death. A separate court petition covers a primary residence worth up to $750,000. Those figures come from the California Courts self-help guide and adjust again on April 1, 2028.
Who Pays the Debts of Someone Who Died Without a Will?
The estate pays valid debts and expenses before the heirs receive anything. In a probate case, Probate Code section 9100 gives creditors until the later of four months after letters issue or 60 days after notice is mailed to them. Code of Civil Procedure section 366.2 generally limits lawsuits on a decedent’s debts to one year after the death.
What If the Family Finds a Will After Assuming There Was None?
A valid will controls, and intestacy applies only to property the will does not cover. Probate Code section 8200 requires whoever holds the original will to deliver it to the court clerk within 30 days of learning of the death. Handwritten wills can also be valid without witnesses if the signature and main provisions are in the writer’s handwriting, under Probate Code section 6111.
Can an Heir Turn Down an Inheritance in California?
California allows an heir to refuse an inheritance. Probate Code section 275 lets an heir disclaim an interest by filing a written disclaimer. Under section 279, a disclaimer of an intestate share is conclusively presumed timely if filed within nine months after the death. The disclaimed share then passes as if the heir had died first, under section 282, with some exceptions.
Will an Intestate Estate Owe Federal Estate Tax?
Very few intestate estates owe federal estate tax. The IRS lists the federal basic exclusion amount at $15,000,000 for 2026, after Public Law 119-21 amended the Internal Revenue Code. The annual gift exclusion is $19,000 per recipient for 2026. Whether a will exists does not change those federal thresholds.
Talk With Gold Law in Camarillo About Your Will
What happens if you die without a will in California comes down to three defaults. The statute chooses your heirs, a judge appoints your administrator, and a court investigator helps decide who raises your children. None of that has to be the plan for your family.
Gold Law has worked with Ventura County families on wills and trusts since 1998. Marissa Garcia and the team can review what you own, how it is titled, and whom you want to protect, then explain which documents fit. If you are handling the estate of a parent who died without a will, the firm can also explain the steps ahead at the Oxnard courthouse.
Call Gold Law at (805) 388-8800 to book a free consultation, or send the office a message. The office is located at 484 Mobil Avenue, Suite 26, Camarillo, CA 93010. Hours are Monday through Thursday 9am to 5pm and Friday 9am to 1pm.
The firm serves families throughout Ventura County and in the Los Angeles County communities it covers, including Woodland Hills, Encino, and Santa Clarita. A signed plan means your family does not have to reconstruct your wishes from old paperwork.