Intestate in California

[jefferylebowski]

My father died last year in California. He was unamrried and I am his only child. He has brothers and sisters and a parent still living. The way I understand it, I am the sole heir based on the order of succession for an intestate death in CA.

I'm curious, is the law pretty black and white on this? Is there any way his brothers and sisters could get involved or is this a pretty straightforward situation.

Thanks

[Betty]

state Ca. (no spouse) Per the Ca. Intestate Succession Law, a child of the decedant would take all of the estate to be distributed before siblings & parents.

[BlondiePB]

If your aunts and uncles get involved in this, tell them to bite rocks.

California Intestate Succession Laws

If any part of a California 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, including both separate property and the one-half of community property that belongs to the decedent. The surviving spouse is entitled to one-half of the community and quasi-community property that belonged to the decedent. In addition, the surviving spouse is entitled to the following amounts of separate property in the estate:

If there is no surviving issue (i.e., child), parent, sibling, or issue of a deceased sibling of decedent, the surviving spouse is entitled to the entire intestate estate.
If the decedent leaves a surviving child, children of that child if the child predeceases the decedent, parents, or siblings, the surviving spouse gets one-half of the intestate separate property.
If the decedent leaves more than one child or children of a predeceased child, the surviving spouse gets one-third of the separate property in 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:

Decedent's descendants (e.g., children and grandchildren), per stirpes.
Decedent's surviving parent or parents equally.
Issue of decedent's parent or parents, split equally if they are all of the same degree of kinship to the decedent (e.g., all decedent's siblings survive) or split per stirpes if unequal (e.g., some siblings survive and some are dead but survived by children).
Decedent's surviving grandparent or grandparents equally.
Issue of decedent's grandparents, per stirpes.
Issue of a predeceased spouse. To be eligible to real property, the former spouse cannot predecease the decedent by more than 15 years. For personal property, the former spouse cannot predecease the decedent by more than 5 years.
Decedent's next of kin in equal degree. If a claim is made through two or more different ancestral lines, those who claim through the ancestor nearest to the decedent are preferred over others.

3. State of California. If there is no taker under any of the above provisions, the intestate estate reverts (escheats) to the state of California.

California Intestate Succession Law Fun Facts

Relatives of the half blood generally inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood (except in certain cases involving the severing of the relationship between a child and the child's natural parent due to adoption).
Relatives of the decedent conceived before his death, but born thereafter inherit, as if they had been born during the decedent's lifetime.
Any person who fails to survive the decedent by 120 hours is deemed to have predeceased the decedent for purposes of intestate succession (which means that the person generally doesn't get a share of the decedent's estate). If it cannot be established by clear and convincing evidence that the person who would otherwise be an heir has survived the decedent by 120 hours, it is considered that the person failed to survive for the required period. However, these rules don't apply if the end result is that the state of California gets the intestate estate.
Evildoers beware! Any person who intentionally and feloniously kills the decedent cannot inherit any of decedent's assets or otherwise benefit from the killing. The murderer is treated as if he or she had predeceased the murdered decedent, therefore being entitled to nothing (except some jail time). Felonious and intentional killing of the decedent can be established by a criminal conviction or a civil trial based on a preponderance of the evidence.
On a similar note, a person who physically abuses, neglects, or commits fiduciary abuse of a decedent who was an elder or dependent adult is also prevented from profiting after the decedent's death. Instead of inheriting from the decedent, the abusive person is treated as having predeceased the decedent (thus becoming ineligible to inherit).
California's intestate succession laws, as well as other laws dealing with wills and decedents' estates, can be found in the California Probate Code.

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[url]http://www.finance.cch.com/pops/c50s10d190_CA.asp[/url]

[jefferylebowski]

thanks...that's what I thought.

[rmet4nzkx]

A month ago you were perfetly happy with the probate research company you contracted with as opposed to an attorney in the county where your father died. Are you still happy and if so, why the continued questions if you are happy with your representation?

There are lots of probate research organizations that are legitimate. I hadn't spoken to my father in years and had no idea he died until I got a letter in the mail from one, similar to you. Basically what they do is look for possible heirs that are supposedly 'unreachable'.The part that is odd to me is that they didn't inform you whose estate you were supposedly entitled to.

Bottom line is this: You can hire an attoreny and do this stuff on your own, or even do it on your own completely. It's all a matter of 'what is it worth' to you.

For me, the fee that they're charging is 20%. 20% of the estate I'm an heir to is pretty substantial, but I went ahead and did it anyways because I'm out of state of the estate and don't have much time. The 20% includes an attorney to represent you and all legal costs (at least with the research comapny I'm using)

I'm happy with their service. Any problem I have they address. The attorney that they have representing me is good and quick about getting back to me on everything. 20% is a lot of money, and 33% is even more. If you're content with 66% of you entitlement to do no work, then maybe it is.

It really depends on the company and the amount the percentage is in real dollars. Decide what doing it on your own would cost you in time and what percentage or fee an attorney would charge you straight up.

Definately research the probate research company. The one I'm using is great, but that doesn't mean the one that contacted you is. I still think it sounds a little odd they didn't tell you who it was. Mine had all the info, even sent me death certificate on request as well as administrator petitons on file already. Definately check them out first to see how legit they are.

[url]www.arb.com[/url]

[jefferylebowski]

I'm still happy. They're taking care of it all for me (for a substantial fee I might add) and I do have an attorney through them in that county, but until it's completely over, I don't see anything wrong with trying to know as much as I can about the process. My attorney made it seem cut and dry, but I wanted to get other opinions.

I definately would have saved money by doing it a different way, but it's still fine.