The North Carolina Intestate Succession Act is the law that controls what happens with a person’s property if they die without a will. It contains a rather convoluted plan for distributing a deceased person’s assets that may or may not reflect the wishes of the deceased.
Property first passes to the spouse and the children. If the deceased, often called the “decedent”, died while married they are said to have left behind a “surviving spouse.” The surviving spouse is entitled to all of the decedent’s assets unless the decedent is also survived by one or more children, the descendants of a deceased child, or one or more parents. Furthermore, there is a distinction between real property, which is land and everything that is attached to it, and personal property, which is just about any other kind of property. In addition, when property passes to children, each child receives an equal share of the assets and they share with the descendants of their deceased siblings. Each deceased sibling’s living children equally divide their deceased parent’s share. If all of this seems a little complicated, it is.
Real and personal property are divided between a surviving spouse and the surviving children, the heirs of deceased children, and/or the parents of the decedent as follows:
Surviving spouse only (no children and no parents): the surviving spouse gets all real estate and all personal property.
Surviving spouse and one child/descendent: the surviving spouse gets half of all real estate, the first $60,000 in personal property and one half of the personal property valued above $60,000; the remainder goes to the surviving child or their descendants, i.e. children, grandchildren, etc.
Surviving spouse and more than one child/descendant: the surviving spouse gets one-third of all real estate, the first $60,000 in personal property and one one-third of the personal property valued above $60,000; the remainder goes to the surviving children and the living descendants of deceased children.
Surviving spouse, no children, but one or more parents: the surviving spouse gets one-half of all real estate, the first $100,000 in personal property and one half of the personal property valued above $100,000; the parents share the remaining property equally.
So what happens if there are no parents to distribute assets to? In that case, the decedent’s brothers and sisters or their descendants take everything. As above with children, if one of the siblings passed away before the decedent, then that deceased sibling’s children equally share their deceased parent’s share. If the decedent died leaving no spouse, children, descendants of deceased children, parents, siblings or descendants of deceased siblings, then the paternal and maternal grandparents split all the assets. And if there are no grandparents on one side then those assets pass to the aunts and uncles of the deceased and their lineal descendants. So in summary:
No surviving spouse, children or parents: the siblings and their descendants take all of the assets.
No surviving spouse, children, parents or siblings: equal shares go to the paternal and maternal grandparents to be shared equally between grandfathers and grandmothers if both are still living.
No surviving spouse, children, parents, siblings or maternal grandparents: half of the assets go to the paternal grandparents and the other half is equally shared by the maternal aunts and uncles, and/or their lineal descendants.
No surviving spouse, children, parents, siblings or paternal grandparents: half of the assets go to the maternal grandparents and the other half is equally shared by the paternal aunts and uncles, and/or their lineal descendants.
Of course all of these rules apply to property that belonged to the decedent when they died. Some property will pass outside of the estate and will not be subject to these rules. Married couples buying property together in North Carolina generally own the real estate with a right of survivorship, which means that the real estate they jointly own automatically passes to the surviving spouse.
Clear as mud, right? The easiest way to avoid trying to figure out this morass of rules is to plan ahead and execute a valid will while you are still capable of thinking and planning clearly.