Florida Intestate Succession Laws
If any part of a Florida decedent's estate is not effectively disposed of by will, the intestate share will be distributed in the following order and manner:
1. Surviving spouse. A surviving spouse is generally first in line to get any assets from the intestate estate. The amount a surviving spouse is entitled to, however, varies as follows:
* If there is no surviving lineal descendant of the decedent, the surviving spouse gets the whole intestate estate.
* If there are surviving lineal descendants of the decedent, and they are also all lineal descendants of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse is entitled to the first $60,000 of the intestate estate, plus one-half of the intestate estate's remaining balance. Property used to satisfy the $60,000 must be valued at the fair market value on the date of distribution.
* If there are surviving lineal descendants of the decedent, one or more of whom are not lineal descendants of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse gets one-half of the intestate estate.
2. Heirs other than surviving spouse. Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse as indicated above, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes as follows to:
1. Decedent's lineal descendants.
2. Decedent's parent or parents equally.
3. Decedent's brothers and sisters and the descendants of any deceased siblings.
4. Decedent's grandparents or their children if both paternal or maternal grandparents are deceased. Half of the estate passes to the paternal grandparents if both survive, or to the surviving paternal grandparent or to the children of the paternal grandparents (i.e., decedent's aunts and uncles) if both are deceased. The other half passes to the maternal relatives in the same manner. If there is no surviving kin on either the paternal or maternal side, the entire estate passes to the relatives available on the surviving side in the same manner as described above.
5. As a next to last resort, the entire intestate estate goes to the kin of decedent's last deceased spouse as if the deceased spouse had survived decedent and then died intestate entitled to the estate (which means going through all of the above again).
3. State of Florida. If there is no taker under any of the above provisions, the intestate estate passes to the state of Florida for use by the state's school fund.
Florida Intestate Succession Law Fun Facts
* When dealing with more remote relatives on the food chain (known officially as collateral kindred), relatives of the half blood inherit only half as much as those of the whole blood. If all who stand to inherit are of the half blood, however, they are all entitled to a full share of the intestate estate.
* Decedent's heirs conceived before the decedent's death, but born thereafter, inherit intestate property as if they had been born during decedent's lifetime.
* Evildoers take note! Whether or not there is a will, any person who intentionally and unlawfully kills or procures the death of decedent is prohibited by law from receiving any of decedent's assets. The murderer is treated as if he or she had predeceased the murdered decedent, therefore being entitled to nothing (except some jail time).
* Florida's intestate succession laws, as well as other related laws, can be found in Title XLII, Chapter 732, of the Florida General Statutes.
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