What is a Will?

A will is a legally enforceable document that dictates how your assets are to be distributed upon your death. A will can also designate a guardian for your minor children and appoint an executor for your estate. Wills can be as simple or complex as you wish and can be structured to achieve a wide range of family and tax objectives.

If you have a will, but not a trust, your estate will be subject to probate before the assets are distributed to your heirs. Probate, discussed more thoroughly below, can be a very expensive and time consuming process. If your estate is larger than $100,000, you should consider drafting a trust that allows you to avoid probate.

What happens if you die without a will in California?

If you die without a will in California, state law determines how your property will be distributed. The laws of intestate succession (meaning the laws regulating distribution of estates without wills) attempts to replicate what most people would want to have done with their property had they had been able to choose before dying.

If the decedent was married, the surviving spouse receives all of the community property. The decedent’s separate property isgenerally divided between the surviving spouse and other potential heirs. The relative distribution in these cases depends on several factors that are beyond the scope of this summary.

If the decedent was unmarried, the property goes first to children of the decedent. If there are no children, the decedent’s parents receive the property, and if there are no living parents, the property is given to other relatives of the decedent based on yet more factors that, again, are beyond the scope of this summary.

This area of law reflects the legislature’s best guess as to how people would like their estates to be distributed. If you have specific beliefs or desires about the distribution of your estate, you should have an estate plan. Dying without a will or some other kind of estate plan can also leave you open to adverse probate and tax consequences that could easily be avoided with a simple planning document.

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