What happens if I die and I have no living relatives to inherit my house and bank accounts? (with no will or trust on such eventuality)
Or is it like what my uncle once said… “makes no difference to me since I’ll be dead” 🙁
What happens if I die and I have no living relatives to inherit my house and bank accounts? (with no will or trust on such eventuality)
byu/Majestic-Emu-9823 inpersonalfinance
Posted by Majestic-Emu-9823
28 Comments
Well, what do you want to happen to your stuff?
If you don’t care, then uncle is right and it does not matter.
The state, or someone appointed by the state, looks up and down your family tree to finding someone living. If no one is found, you guessed it, eventually the state gets it.
If this is a real problem for you, leave it to a good friend or charity.
Depends on your state or local laws. If you’re concerned, write a will.
Goes to the state after any federal taxes and liens paid.
Anything you have can be claimed by anyone who wants to claim it when your estate goes through probate. If there is no one to contest it, they win.
The state takes ownership of your assets and follows a recipe after that: looking for distant relatives, etc. and it will all get dispersed in probate court.
Your uncle’s not wrong.
That said, the answer is that the court figures it out, according to state laws. You know those stories of people inheriting a bundle from a third cousin once removed they never knew they had?
This.
If there truly are none (really rare), the state keeps it once the search is given up after a few years.
You can set the beneficiaries to who or whatever you like.
I don’t have kids. Right now my backup beneficiary is my local library.
Otherwise there are state rules for who is next of kin who inherits things.
The laws of intestacy succession in your state apply. (And very few people have no living relatives at all.) Last resort – the state gets it.
But of course, it makes no difference to you since you’ll be dead.
If you actually care, have a will written.
If the state can’t find any living relative, they just keep whatever is left after liquidating assetsm
Charity? In order to not leave a possible mess for someone at least have a will if you have anything to leave. We have no children and our families are largely gone, and some relatives we neither see really or live close to and we are leaving whatever is left of our assets to charities while also giving money away while we’re alive.
Just donate it. Make a will or a trust and have your belongs go to people who or organizations that will do some good with it.
When I deployed to Iraq we had to make a SGLI, and we had to choose who gets the money if something happens. For those who had no one just donated to the red cross or the boys and girls club.
You dying will suck. The rest doesn’t matter if none of the other items on the list are available. Live long and prosper my friend. 🖖
As others have said, the state looks through your family tree until they find someone. Most things are digitized now so finding a relative isn’t as hard as it may be thought to be.
the state takes it so leave it to a favorite cause
To avoid giving it to the state an easy fix is signing power of attorney over to a friend. Get it notarized and it means the friend has control over all your stuff after you die.
Escheat to the state if there are no living relatives.
It depends on the laws of the jurisdiction in which you die. Most jurisdictions have laws in place for when someone dies intestate. Where I live for example it first would go to the spouse. If no spouse than parents, if no parents then siblings, if no siblings then first cousins. Often times at that point its over. there is no one left to inherit and eventually it will go to the state as general revenue.
It’s going to depend on state law. In my state, the executor (generally a court-appointed attorney) will search for a relative. Lots of genealogy firms do this work. If a relative cannot be located or elects not to receive the inheritance, the estate escheats to the State.
Intestacy laws with the state at the end.
Is there anyone or any cause you halfway care about?
You can leave them to me. Would love to move to the states.
If you have enough money where you’re worried about that, get a will done. Couple hundred bucks.
Unfortunately, your house will likely be squatted in and in terrible disrepair by the time the state takes action. It would be better to plan to leave it to a charity or church.
I used to work in a probate court, and there are people who make a very decent living tracking down heirs to these estates.
You should make a will anyway, because I’m sure there’s a charity or cause you care about.
I would make provisions for everything before you go! Maybe in your older age you befriend a young couple that lives near you, they help you out with yard work or picking up groceries or light handyman work, and you secretly sign things over to them. Or pick a local organization with a mission you care about that gets everything after your estate is liquidated. Though tbf, most of your assets will likely go to caring for you through your final years, unless you’re super healthy and simply drop dead one day lol
Please name me, I will be sure to put it to good use for myself & society + support any causes of your choosing
Do informal wills have any legal standing?