Many people ask what will happen to my estate if I do not have an estate plan. The State of Ohio, through the probate court and attorneys (that is, complete strangers) will get involved and decide what will happen if you choose not to. This is called intestate probate. Intestate probate usually takes a very long time, costs a very high amount of your estate, and requires that your estate be distributed in accordance with Section 2105.06 of the Ohio Revised Code which is the Ohio Statute of Descent and Distribution.

This means that your estate could go to people that you would not give the time of day to, let alone your money. When a person dies intestate, that is, without a will (a much better alternative to a will is a living trust) having title or right to any personal property, or to any real estate or inheritance, in Ohio, the personal property shall be distributed, and the real estate or inheritance shall descend and pass in parcenary, that is to your heirs, except as otherwise provided by law, in the following course:

(A) If there is no surviving spouse, to the children of the intestate (the intestate is the deceased person who died without an estate plan) or their lineal descendants, per stirpes (per stirpes is a Latin term that when literally translated means stripes). Per stirpes means equal shares to each next generation of the person who died;

(B) If there is a spouse and one child or its lineal descendants surviving, the first sixty thousand dollars if the spouse is the natural or adoptive parent of the child, or the first twenty thousand dollars if the spouse is not the natural or adoptive parent of the child, plus one-half of the balance of the intestate estate to the spouse and the remainder to the child or his lineal descendants, per stirpes;

(C) If there is a spouse and more than one child or their lineal descendants surviving, the first sixty thousand dollars if the spouse is the natural or adoptive parent of one of the children, or the first twenty thousand dollars if the spouse is the natural or adoptive parent of none of the children, plus one-third of the balance of the intestate estate to the spouse and the remainder to the children equally or to the lineal descendants of any deceased child, per stirpes;

(D) If there are no children or their lineal descendants, then the whole to the surviving spouse;

(E) If there is no spouse and no children or their lineal descendants, to the parents of the intestate equally, or to the surviving parent;

(F) If there is no spouse, no children or their lineal descendants, and no parent surviving, to the brothers and sisters, whether of the whole or of the half blood of the intestate, or their lineal descendants, per stirpes; whole blood means a full brother or sister and half blood means a half brother or sister (this does not mean a step brother or step sister);

(G) If there are no brothers or sisters or their lineal descendants, one-half to the paternal grandparents of the intestate equally, or to the survivor of them, and one-half to the maternal grandparents of the intestate equally, or to the survivor of them;

(H) If there is no paternal grandparent or no maternal grandparent, one-half to the lineal descendants of the deceased grandparents, per stirpes, this means aunts, uncles, and cousins, if there are no surviving grandparents or their lineal descendants, then to the next of kin of the intestate, provided there shall be no representation among such next of kin, next of kin means that we go back to a common ancestor of the next of kin and then compute the degree to which they were related to the person who died intestate. This can go out pretty far, for example a third cousin three times removed. The statement that there shall be no representation among the next of kin means that we stop when we find a living next of kin and do not allow the children of deceased next of kin to step forward and represent their parents to share in the estate.

(I) If there are no next of kin, to stepchildren or their lineal descendants, per stirpes;

(J) If there are no stepchildren or their lineal descendants, escheat to the state. Escheat to the state means that the State of Ohio gets the money and assets when no one else is alive to inherit. Most people would rather see their estate go to friends and charities instead of the State of Ohio if there are no living heirs.

As you can see, without a properly drafted estate plan, you estate could go to people you did not even know while you were alive or people that you did know but would not want to take any part of your estate.

For more information, contact us today by calling 888-479-9086 ext. 1 or by filling out the email form at the top left-hand side of this page.