If someone dies in West Virginia with no will, who does the estate go to?
Full Question:
In the state of WV, if spouse dies and has adult children of only 1 mother, and has no written will, who is the beneficiary of estate if decedent owns property (land and other) that is in both his own name, both names of he & spouse, and just spouse's name? Does everything automatically go to the surviving spouse, or does the children inherit one half and the spouse one half of the interest in the entire estate?
04/04/2007 |
Category: Wills and Estates |
State: West Virginia |
#2634
Answer:
The following are WV statutes:
§ 42-1-3. Share of spouse.
The intestate share of a decedent's surviving spouse is:
(a) The entire intestate estate if:
(1) No descendant of the decedent survives the decedent; or
(2) All of the decedent's surviving descendants are also
descendants of the surviving spouse and there is no other
descendant of the surviving spouse who survives the decedent;
(b) Three fifths of the intestate estate, if all of the
decedent's surviving descendants are also descendants of the
surviving spouse and the surviving spouse has one or more
surviving descendants who are not descendants of the decedent;
(c) One half of the intestate estate, if one or more of the
decedent's surviving descendants are not descendants of the
surviving spouse.
(Code 1849, c. 123, § 3; Code 1860, c. 123, § 3; Code
1868, c. 78, § 3; 1882, c. 94, § 3; Code 1923, c. 78,
§ 3; 1957, c. 53; 1992, c. 75; 1993, c. 169.)
§ 42-1-3a. Share of heirs other than surviving spouse.
Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the
decedent's surviving spouse under section three of
this article, or the entire intestate estate if there is no
surviving spouse, passes in the following order to the
individuals designated below who survive the decedent:
(a) To the decedent's descendants by representation;
(b) If there is no surviving descendant, to the decedent's
parents equally if both survive, or to the surviving parent;
(c) If there is no surviving descendant or parent, to the
descendants of the decedent's parents or either of them by
representation;
(d) If there is no surviving descendant, parent, or
descendant of a parent, but the decedent is survived by one or
more grandparents or descendants of grandparents, half of the
estate passes to the decedent's paternal grandparents equally
if both survive, or to the surviving paternal grandparent, or
to the descendants of the decedent's paternal grandparents or
either of them if both are deceased, the descendants taking by
representation; and the other half passes to the decedent's
maternal relatives in the same manner; but, if there is no
surviving grandparent or descendant of a grandparent on either
the paternal or the maternal side, the entire estate passes to
the decedent's relatives on the other side in the same manner
as the half.
(1992, c. 75.)