legally- who inherits property when owner dies without a will?

I_love_coffee

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Scenario:
Grandfather owns house at time of death. He is widowed, no siblings, with one son and one adult grandson. The son has been estranged from his father. The adult grandson has been living in this home with the grandfather for 10+ years.

The grandfather dies without a will. Who would legally be entitled to the home? Son or grandson? This is in the US.

Google search points towards son inheriting home, but I want to see if anybody has been through something like this or if I'm missing something.

Thanks in advance!
 

cornflake

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The son, unless I'm missing something.

Grandson could put up a fight as to leaving though - he's a tenant, but it's not his house. Depending on the state, if the son doesn't find out, you may be able to do something with squatter's rights but...
 

Cyia

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most likely the son, but they'd likely have to go through probate court with a state appointed representative for the estate of the deceased.

(INAL)
 

shakeysix

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happened to me. my husband died suddenly. intestate property goes to legal spouse, children first, not grand children even if they are adult. a bachelor uncle of my father's died intestate. 8 nieces and nephews split up a nice farm and some oil leases. he had made it clear that he was going to leave it to a particular nephew but did not get around to making a will so it was split.

I believe that my dad, his sibs and cousins met with the lawyer and worked things out for an even division. the one nephew was pissed off but had no legal standing. my dad's dad had loaned the uncle money to buy the land in the first place. he was never able to re-pay but a piece of the loan. he moved to another county and bought cheap acreage during the depression, after losing his parent's farm in Barton County.

my grandfather was the only family member with a reliable income--a VA disability from WW1. so the family asked grandpa to make the loan. you know times are tough when the richest people in the family are on a gov relief payment! dad and his sibs had the unpaid loan documented just in case. it didn't figure into the decision but made things easier family wise. --s6
 
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AW Admin

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Scenario:
Grandfather owns house at time of death. He is widowed, no siblings, with one son and one adult grandson. The son has been estranged from his father. The adult grandson has been living in this home with the grandfather for 10+ years.

The grandfather dies without a will. Who would legally be entitled to the home? Son or grandson? This is in the US.

Google search points towards son inheriting home, but I want to see if anybody has been through something like this or if I'm missing something.

Thanks in advance!

Check the statutes of that state.
 

MaryMumsy

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Intestacy laws vary by state. Decide what state you want and then research their specific law. And it can get really messy, especially when real estate is involved.

ETA: Lisa beat me

MM
 
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jclarkdawe

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How much do you want to write a legal drama?

If the grandson is the son of the son, and does not have rights because of a sibling to the son, the grandson is extremely unlikely to get anything. The grandson's only rights are through the son and if the son is still alive, the grandson can't get anything. There might be some states that come to a different result, but it's unlikely.

However, the grandson is not screwed. The grandson argues that the care of his grandfather, such as taking him to doctor's appointments, are services against the grandfather's estate, and therefore need to be paid before any bequests are made. If the grandfather documented this in a letter or note (I, the grandfather, agree that I owe my grandson $X per month for his care of me.), the grandson has a strong case.

Further factoring into this is if the grandson is on good terms with his father, the father might not want to raise the issue. The father can reject the bequest, in which case it would go to the grandson.

In other words, you can create a lot of legal drama here, but I don't know how much you want to go into this.

By the way, the grandfather can easily solve this problem by granting a deed to the grandson, reserving to himself a life estate. I've done this several times. It's a great way to avoid probate, is relatively cheap (under $500) and simple. Upon the grandfather's death, the life estate ends, and the grandson becomes owner of the property. This avoids Medicaid issues of joint ownership, and removes the grandfather from ownership of the real estate.

Jim Clark-Dawe
 

MAS

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In general, inheritance laws are intended to pass a decedent's property to the persons who would have been the natural objects of his/her bounty. So most states give the decedent's property to the spouse and/or the children. But the details vary from state to state. The descent of land will be governed by the laws of the state where the land is located. Personal property (money, jewelry, furniture, cars, etc.) would be governed by the laws of the decedent's domicile. The passage of the property to the heirs may be affected by the debts of the estate -- land might have to be sold to come up with the money to pay the debts. Some states give the surviving spouse the right continue to live in the residence.

If the land in your story is going to be located in Ohio, I'd be happy to take a look at your specific facts and let you know who would probably end up with the home.
 

WeaselFire

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The grandfather dies without a will. Who would legally be entitled to the home? Son or grandson?

The guy with the better lawyer. :)

What do you need for the story? Most states (all I know of) award real property from a person who dies intestate to the closest direct heirs. In your case, son. But probate courts take a lot of factors into the decision and a good attorney could get the grandson something. Probably not everything, though it could be a substantial portion. It all depends on what the attorney's present for the argument.

Jeff
 

moonwatch178

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If you want to follow the traditional common law intestate succession, it'd probably be the son, unless the grandson was the son of another (now deceased) child.

Lots of different factors can change the scenario though.
 

I_love_coffee

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I'm grateful to everybody who responded.

More details: My story is set in either NJ or PA. I think I will decide which one, once I figure out which states laws will suit the plot better.

It's not going to be a legal drama.

I guess I just needed to know if what I was going for was logistically and legally correct:

Grandfather dies with no will. He has no debts, but he owns a home. His adult grandson has been living with him since he was a child. Adult grandson is assuming he will inherit the home, (grandfather possibly alluded to that, and he was estranged from his own son).

Adult grandson searches for a will, but can't find one. He ( and these details are fuzzy and need more research) finds out he will need to go to probate court to register as administrator, but will need permission of his father who he has been estranged from since he was a young boy. Grandson learns that unless he locates a will that says he will inheirit the home, that his estranged father will then inherit the home.

I just need to get the legal details right before proceeding with all of the family drama :)
 

Daleth

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Here's a summary of the PA intestacy laws:
http://www.wolfbaldwin.com/Probate-Articles/Dying-Without-a-Will-Intestate-Succession.shtml

And here's NJ:
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/intestate-succession-new-jersey.html

As you can see there's no relevant difference between their laws.

And here's a description of your situation: "If you die leaving children but no spouse, the children receive all divided equally among them. If there are grandchildren, they take their deceased parent's share, unless all the children are deceased. In that event, all the grandchildren share equally."
http://www.njlaws.com/intestacy.html?id=523&a=
In other words, as you've described it, there's a surviving son and a surviving grandson who is the child of that surviving son. So, as Jclarkdawe wrote above, the grandson gets zip. If, however, the grandson were the son of a different child--say the granddad had a son and daughter, but the daughter died before he did and the grandson was her child--then the grandson would probably inherit the share of the deceased daughter; in other words the son and grandson would split the estate.