Blog · Trusts and Wills

What Happens If You Die Without a Will in California: Who Gets What

Here is what happens if you die without a will in California. The state already wrote one for you. It is called intestate succession, it lives in the Probate Code starting at section 6400, and it decides who gets your property based on who survives you and how that property is owned.

For a lot of married couples the result is close to what they would have picked anyway. For blended families, unmarried partners, and anyone with separate property, it can land in a very different place. And having no will does not keep your family out of court. It usually means the opposite.

Quick note on who is talking. opfinances.com is a licensed life insurance and annuity agency in Los Gatos. We are not a law firm, not a financial advisor, and not a fiduciary. This is general education about how California law works, not legal advice about your family.

The short version

• California splits an estate with no will by a fixed formula in Probate Code sections 6401 and 6402. Your wishes do not factor in.
• Your spouse or registered domestic partner gets all of your half of the community property. Separate property is shared with your children, parents or siblings.
• Unmarried partners, friends and charities get nothing under the formula. Stepchildren generally do not inherit unless they were adopted.
• Anything with a named beneficiary, like life insurance or an IRA, skips the formula and goes to the person on the form.

California intestate succession follows a fixed order.

When someone dies without a valid will, the law calls them intestate. The court does not guess what you would have wanted. It applies the order in the Probate Code, and that order is the same for every family.

First comes the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner. California treats registered domestic partners the same as spouses here. Next come your children, and if a child died before you, that child's own kids step into their place. If you have no children, it moves to your parents, then to your brothers and sisters and their children, then to grandparents and more distant relatives.

If nobody in that chain is alive, the property goes to the State of California. That is called escheat, and it is rare, but it happens. One more rule: an heir has to outlive you by 120 hours, which is five days, or the law treats them as if they died first.

• Spouse or registered domestic partner
• Children, then grandchildren in a deceased child's place
• Parents
• Brothers and sisters, then their children
• Grandparents and their descendants, then more distant next of kin
• The State of California, if no one qualifies

Who inherits if there is no will in California depends on community property.

This is the part most articles skip, and in the Bay Area it decides almost everything. California is a community property state. Most of what a married couple earns or buys during the marriage is community property, owned half and half.

Under section 6401, your surviving spouse gets your half of the community property. Since they already own the other half, they end up with all of it. The same goes for quasi community property, which is property bought while you lived in another state that would have been community property here.

Separate property is different. That is property you owned before the marriage, or received by gift or inheritance and kept apart. With no will, your spouse shares it with your other relatives.

• No children, parents, siblings, or children of siblings: your spouse gets all of your separate property.
• One child, or no children but a living parent or sibling line: your spouse gets one half, the rest goes to that child or those relatives.
• Two or more children: your spouse gets one third, and the children share two thirds.

Dying intestate in California with a spouse and children.

A parent with a spouse and two kids often assumes everything goes to the spouse. For community property it does. For separate property, like an account inherited from a grandparent or a condo bought before the wedding, two thirds goes to the children. If those children are minors, they cannot take control of it. The court usually has to set up a guardianship of the estate or another approved arrangement to hold it until they turn 18, and at 18 they get it outright.

A worked example from a Santa Clara County family.

These numbers are illustrative only, not anyone's real estate. Say a San Jose man dies with no will. He is married with two children, ages 14 and 17. He and his wife own a home worth $1,600,000 as community property, and they have $200,000 of community savings. He also has a $300,000 brokerage account in his name alone that he inherited from his mother and never mixed with joint money.

The community side is simple. His wife already owns half the house and half the savings, and she inherits his half. She ends up with all of the home and all $200,000.

The brokerage account is separate property and he left two children, so his wife gets one third, about $100,000. The two kids share the other two thirds, about $100,000 each. Both are minors, so their shares sit under court supervision until each one turns 18.

That account is also titled in his name alone with no beneficiary, and at $300,000 it is over the California small estate limit of $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. So it goes through probate. Using the statutory fee schedule, a $300,000 estate works out to $9,000 for the attorney and another $9,000 for the administrator, plus court costs. One transfer on death form on that account would have avoided all of it.

No will does not mean no probate.

People sometimes think skipping a will keeps things simple. It usually does the opposite. Part of what happens if you die without a will in California is a court case. If the property in your name alone is over the small estate limit, your family still opens a probate case. The only difference is that nobody was named to run it, so the court has to appoint an administrator, usually a close family member, and that person may need a bond.

Property that passes to a surviving spouse can often move through a shorter spousal property petition instead of full probate. Everything else follows the normal process, which commonly takes nine months to a year and a half in California.

What skips the formula entirely.

Intestate succession only controls property that passes through your estate. Anything with its own path to the next person ignores it. That includes a funded living trust, joint tenancy property, payable on death bank accounts, and any account or policy with a named beneficiary. A life insurance death benefit goes straight to the person on the beneficiary form, will or no will. That is also why an old form naming an ex spouse or a parent who has passed can quietly undo your plans.

The people the formula leaves out.

The order only knows legal relationships. A partner you live with but never married or registered with gets nothing, even after 20 years. Close friends, godchildren and charities get nothing. Stepchildren generally do not inherit unless they were legally adopted, with narrow exceptions.

If any of those people matter to you, a will or trust is the only way to include them. For an unmarried partner, a life insurance policy that names them as beneficiary is one of the simplest ways to make sure they are not left with nothing. Our guide to how much life insurance you need is a good place to size it.

What to do so the state is not writing your will.

Fixing this isn't hard, but the documents themselves take an attorney. A simple will names who gets what, who runs the estate, and who would raise your kids. A living trust goes further and can keep the house out of probate. Which one fits depends on your family and your property, and that is a conversation for a licensed California estate planning attorney.

The part you can do yourself, today, is check every beneficiary form. Life insurance, annuities, 401(k)s and IRAs all have one. Name a primary and a backup. And if you are worried about what happens to debts after a death, our page on whether children inherit a parent's debt covers what creditors can and cannot reach. If you want a second set of eyes on the insurance side, reach out here.

FAQ

Questions people ask.

What happens if you die without a will in California and you are married?

Your spouse or registered domestic partner gets all of your half of the community property. Your separate property is split between your spouse and your children, parents or siblings, depending on who survives you.

Do children inherit everything if there is no will in California?

Only if there is no surviving spouse. With a spouse, the children share in separate property only: two thirds if there are two or more children, one half if there is one.

Does an unmarried partner inherit in California without a will?

No. California intestate succession only covers spouses, registered domestic partners and blood or adopted relatives. A will, a trust, or a beneficiary designation is the way to include a partner.

Does life insurance follow intestate succession?

Not when a living beneficiary is named. The death benefit is paid directly to that person. If the estate is the beneficiary, or every named beneficiary has died, it can end up passing under the formula.

Getting it done

Getting the documents in place.

Reading about a will or a trust does not put one in place. If you want an attorney to draft or review your will, living trust, or power of attorney, a LegalShield membership gives you access to a provider law firm for a flat monthly fee instead of an hourly bill. You can also call with a question before it turns into a problem.

See LegalShield plans

Disclosure: Michael Le, the licensed agent behind opfinances.com, is also an independent LegalShield associate and may earn a commission if you enroll. LegalShield is not a law firm; it provides access to legal services offered by independent provider law firms. On Point Finances is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Plan prices and coverage vary by state.

Where this fits.

This post covers one piece of a bigger plan. Life Insurance walks through the whole decision, and the answer library takes the follow up questions one at a time.

On Point Finances is a licensed insurance agency, not a tax, legal, or investment adviser. This post is general education, not a recommendation, and reading it does not create a client relationship.

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Sources

• California Probate Code section 6401, surviving spouse's share
• California Probate Code section 6402, shares for children and other relatives
• California Probate Code section 6403, the 120 hour survival rule
• California Probate Code section 6800, escheat to the state
• California Probate Code section 100, community property at death
• California Family Code section 297.5, rights of registered domestic partners
• California Probate Code section 13100, small estate limit
• Sacramento County Public Law Library: small estate limit of $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025
• California Probate Code section 10810, statutory attorney fees

Checked November 1, 2026. Rules and limits change; confirm current figures with the source or your own tax or legal professional before acting.