As the only surviving child, does my mother inherit all of her father's property?
Full Question:
Answer:
The answer will partly depend on whether there are any claims on the property, such as liens by creditors or the state for unpaid taxes, and the names on the deeds, such as joint tenants who may take an ownership interest by survivorship, or others who may have a remainder interest.
Please see the following MS statute to determine applicability:
§ 91-1-3. Descent of land.
When any person shall die seized of any estate of inheritance in
lands, tenements, and hereditaments not devised, the same shall descend
to his or her children, and their descendants, in equal parts, the
descendants of the deceased child or grandchild to take the share of the
deceased parent in equal parts among them. When there shall not be a
child or children of the intestate nor descendants of such children, then
to the brothers and sisters and father and mother of the intestate and
the descendants of such brothers and sisters in equal parts, the
descendants of a sister or brother of the intestate to have in equal
parts among them their deceased parent's share. If there shall not be a
child or children of the intestate, or descendants of such children, or
brothers or sisters, or descendants of them, or father or mother, then
such estate shall descend, in equal parts, to the grandparents and uncles
and aunts, if any there be; otherwise, such estate shall descend in equal
parts to the next of kin of the intestate in equal degree, computing by
the rules of the civil law. There shall not be any representation among
collaterals, except among the descendants of the brothers and sisters of
the intestate.