Last Will and testament document with pen
My neighbor died this week. He caught pneumonia after returning from a cruise. They put him in the hospital and he was dead in 5 days.
The word is that he was in the process of updating his will. He had a major falling out with his children and wanted to disinherit them. Just what. Too late.
If a Florida resident dies without a will, their property will pass to their closest relatives through the Florida intestate laws. Intestate laws set out a rigid formula for judges to distribute assets to family members to avoid a situation where the deceased person’s assets end up with the state.
The children live up north. Below is a summary of how the intestate laws dictate the distribution of assets based on the deceased’s surviving family members.
In the most straightforward cases, there is just one person or group of people who qualify to inherit the intestate property.
- If the deceased leaves behind children but no spouse, the children will receive everything;
- If the deceased leaves behind a spouse but no children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren, the spouse will inherit everything;
- If the deceased has surviving parents but no spouse or descendant, the parents inherit everything; and
- If the deceased leaves behind siblings but no spouse, descendant, or parents, the siblings inherit everything.
Don’t be like my neighbor. Finish getting your will done today.
Ben Winter, P.A. focuses its practice in the areas of real estate law, Social Security Disability and Workers Compensation in St Petersburg, Florida. For more information, go to our web site www.benwinterlaw.com or call (727) 822-0100.