Who Inherits the CD of a Person Who Dies Without a Will?
Full Question:
Answer:
When a person dies, their assets are distributed in the probate process. If a person dies with a will, an executor is named to handle the distribution of the estate. If the person dies without a will, the court appoints an administrator to distribute the decedent's assets according to the state's laws of intestacy. In cases where the decedent didn't own property valued at more than a certain amount, which varies by state, the estate may go through a small estate administration process, rather than the formal probate process. To dispose of the real property interests of the decedent, the executor or administrator executes an executor's deed or fiduciary deed.
Some assets pass outside the probate process, such as to a named beneficiary on a CD, insurance policy, or bank account, or a joint tenant with right of survivorship in an account or other assets. Such assets are called transfer on death assets and pass directly to the beneficiary outside probate. The answer will depend on whether the assets had a named beneficiary or joint owner on the account. Otherwise, in Kansas intestacy laws, a spouse divides the deceased spouse’s estate 50/50 with a child.
Joint tenancy is a form of ownership by two or more individuals together that differs from other types of co-ownership in that the surviving joint tenant immediately becomes the owner of the whole property upon the death of the other joint tenant. State law, which varies by state, controls the creation of a joint tenancy in real property. Joint tenancy property passes outside of probate; however, it may be severed so that the property becomes part of one person's estate and passes to that person's heirs. Each joint tenant has an equal, undivided interest in the whole property, and may enter onto, take possession of the whole, occupy, and use every portion of the common property at all times and in all circumstances. All joint tenants, and their spouses, must sign deeds and contracts to transfer or sell real estate.
Please see the following KS statute:
59-504. Surviving spouse.
If the decedent leaves a spouse and no children nor issue of a previously
deceased child, all the decedent's property shall pass to the surviving
spouse. If the decedent leaves a spouse and a child, or children, or issue
of a previously deceased child or children, one-half of such property shall
pass to the surviving spouse.