My brother died without a will and his only heirs are me and his children, who is entitled to his estate?
Question Details:
My brother died at home without any will. I've lived with him for more than 2 years and shared the expenses. He has 2 children who are minors living with his ex-wife (divorced more than 14 years ago). They have not spoken with my brother for that last 2 years of his life.
His children.....MTD of California explained it well.
His children (both of them) are entitled to his estate, the entire estate. However, if you owned property with him as joint tenants, once he passed, the entire property became yours. For example, if you owned a home with your brother, as "joint tenants", you are the owner. This home does not pass to his children; it is solely yours.
Since he died intestate (without a will or trust or codicil), his kids as his immediate heirs get his estate, whatever it is made of. It does not make a difference that his children did not reside with him. Since they are minors, they will most likely need a court appointed administrator to the estate.
When a person dies without a Will they are said to have died "intestate". That means that the distribution of their estate will be dictated by the intestacy laws of the state in which they died. Under FL's intestacy statute, in this case, his property would be split between his children.
However, in the case of real estate, how title is held will control. If it was as tenants-in-common then when one owner dies, their share passes to their estate. It will then be distributed by the terms of their Will or intestacy laws (as explained above). But if title is held as "joint tenants with right of survivorship", then in this instance, when one joint owner dies their share passes to the other joint owner(s) by operation of law. It does not become an asset of the deceased owner's probate estate.
Note: If the wording on the title is not clear as to how it is held, the law presumes it as tenants-in-common.
