Who inherits if you die without a will in Arizona?

Question

Accepted Answer

If you die without a will in Arizona, your estate passes by intestate succession, starting with your surviving spouse.

Surviving spouse's share. If there is no surviving issue, or if all surviving issue are also issue of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse takes the entire intestate estate . If there are surviving issue one or more of whom are not issue of the surviving spouse (for example, a child from another relationship), the surviving spouse takes one-half of the decedent's intestate separate property and no interest in the one-half of the community property that belonged to the decedent .

Everyone else. Any part of the estate not passing to the surviving spouse — or the entire estate if there is no surviving spouse — passes in this order to persons who survive the decedent :

1. To the decedent's descendants by representation .
2. If there is no surviving descendant, to the decedent's parents equally if both survive, or to the surviving parent .
3. If there is no surviving descendant or parent, to the descendants of the decedent's parents (or either of them) by representation .
4. If there is no surviving descendant, parent, or descendant of a parent, but the decedent is survived by grandparents or descendants of grandparents, the estate is split equally between the paternal and maternal sides, with each half passing to that side's grandparents, surviving grandparent, or their descendants by representation; if one side has no survivors, the entire estate passes to the other side in the same manner .

If no one is qualified to claim the estate under these rules, the intestate estate passes to the state .