Also known as: legitimæ successio · successio legitima · legitimate succession · intestate succession
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
2 senses
A method of succession to property upon death governed by statute rather than by will or deed.
The rules determine the shares that living class members receive by treating the designated ancestor as having died intestate at the time the interest takes effect in possession.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
A method of succession to property upon death governed by statute rather than by will or deed.
The rules determine the shares that living class members receive by treating the designated ancestor as having died intestate at the time the interest takes effect in possession.
After Lamar Lewis died owning rental property, the probate court entered an order distributing the parcels to his two children under the state descent statute. No deed from the estate was required. The order itself transferred marketable title that the children later recorded.
Lucy Liu proved paternity through a court order and sought a share of her father's intestate estate alongside his legitimate children. The court held that denying her an equal share violated equal protection and awarded her the same fractional interest the legitimate children received.
Deta Mona Trimble is the illegitimate daughter of Jessie Trimble and Sherman Gordon. Trimble and Gordon lived together in Chicago with Deta Mona from 1970 until Gordon died in 1974 as the victim of a homicide. On January 2, 1973, the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, entered a paternity order finding Gordon to be the father of Deta Mona and ordering him to pay fifteen dollars per week for her support. Gordon thereafter supported Deta Mona in accordance with the paternity order and openly acknowledged her as his child. Gordon died intestate at the age of twenty-eight, leaving an estate consisting only of a 1974 Plymouth automobile worth approximately twenty-five hundred dollars. Shortly after Gordon's death, Trimble, as the mother and next friend of Deta Mona, filed a petition for letters of administration, determination of heirship, and declaratory relief in the Probate Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County. That court entered an order determining heirship, identifying as the only heirs of Gordon his father Joseph Gordon, his mother Ethel King, and his brother, two sisters, and a half brother. The Circuit Court excluded Deta Mona on the authority of section twelve of the Illinois Probate Act. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Circuit Court on the authority of its earlier decision in In re Estate of Karas. The United States Supreme Court noted probable jurisdiction to consider the arguments that section twelve violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by invidiously discriminating on the basis of illegitimacy and sex.
View caseLorenzo Lugo died in a work accident leaving both legitimate and illegitimate children who had relied on his support. The court ruled that the illegitimate children were entitled to the same workers' compensation death benefits as the legitimate children under the governing statute.
Henry Clyde Stokes died on June 22, 1967, from injuries received the previous day during the course of his employment in Louisiana. At the time of his death Stokes resided and maintained a household with Willie Mae Weber, to whom he was not married. Living in the household were four legitimate minor children born of the marriage between Stokes and Adlay Jones Stokes, who was at the time committed to a mental hospital. Also living in the home was one unacknowledged illegitimate child born of the relationship between Stokes and Willie Mae Weber, and a second illegitimate child of Stokes and Weber was born posthumously. On June 29, 1967, Stokes' four legitimate children, through their maternal grandmother as guardian, filed a claim for their father's death under Louisiana's workmen's compensation law. The defendant employer and its insurer impleaded Willie Mae Weber, who appeared and claimed compensation benefits for the two illegitimate children. Meanwhile the four legitimate children had brought another suit for their father's death against a third-party tortfeasor, which was settled for an amount in excess of the maximum benefits allowable under workmen's compensation. The illegitimate children did not share in this settlement. Subsequently the employer in the initial action requested the extinguishment of all parties' workmen's compensation claims by reason of the tort settlement. The trial judge awarded the four legitimate children the maximum allowable amount of compensation and declared their entitlement had been satisfied from the tort suit settlement, so the four legitimate children dismissed their workmen's compensation claim. Judgment was also awarded to Stokes' two illegitimate offspring to the extent that maximum compensation benefits were not exhausted by the four legitimate children. Since such benefits had been entirely exhausted by the amount of the tort settlement in which only the four dependent legitimate offspring participated, the two dependent illegitimate children received nothing. Both the Louisiana Court of Appeal and a divided Louisiana Supreme Court sustained the statutes over constitutional objections. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the case.
Laura Lewis petitioned for the entire intestate estate after her husband died. The court first determined she remained a surviving spouse under the separation decree and then awarded her the full share because all surviving descendants were also her descendants.
Karen Capato married Robert Capato in May 1999. Shortly thereafter, Robert was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and was told that the chemotherapy he required might render him sterile. Because the couple wanted children, Robert deposited his semen in a sperm bank before undergoing chemotherapy. Despite Robert's treatment, Karen conceived naturally and gave birth to a son in August 2001. Robert's health deteriorated in late 2001, and he died in Florida in March 2002. His will, executed in Florida, named as beneficiaries the son born of his marriage to Karen and two children from a previous marriage, but made no provision for children conceived after his death. Shortly after Robert's death, Karen began in vitro fertilization using her husband's frozen sperm. She conceived in January 2003 and gave birth to twins in September 2003, eighteen months after Robert's death. Karen Capato claimed survivors insurance benefits on behalf of the twins. The Social Security Administration denied her application. The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey affirmed the agency's decision. The court determined that the twins would qualify for benefits only if they could inherit from the deceased wage earner under Florida intestacy law. Under Florida law, a child born posthumously may inherit only if conceived during the decedent's lifetime. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed. It concluded that the undisputed biological children of a deceased wage earner and his widow qualify for survivors benefits without regard to state intestacy law. Courts of Appeals had divided on the question, with some circuits reaching conflicting results. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve the conflict.
Lance Lee sought to inherit from his biological father under Louisiana law that barred acknowledged illegitimate children from sharing equally with legitimate children. The court upheld the statute and denied Lance an equal share in the estate.
Lou Bertha Patterson gave birth to Rita Vincent on March 15, 1962, in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. On May 10, 1962, Patterson and Ezra Vincent jointly executed a Louisiana State Board of Health form before a notary public acknowledging that Vincent was the natural father of the child. This acknowledgment occurred under Louisiana procedures but did not alter the child's status for purposes of intestate succession. Ezra Vincent died intestate on September 16, 1968, in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, leaving substantial property within the state but no will to direct its distribution. Lou Bertha Labine, as guardian and tutrix of Rita Vincent, petitioned the state court for the appointment of an administrator for Vincent's estate, a declaration that Rita Vincent was the sole heir, and an order directing support and maintenance payments for the child. In the alternative, the petition sought a declaration of entitlement to $150 per month in support under Louisiana law. The administrator of the succession answered the petition by claiming that Vincent's relatives were entitled to the entire estate. The trial court ruled that the father's collateral relations took the property and dismissed the petition with costs. It also denied the support claim in light of Social Security payments of $60 per month and Veterans Administration payments of $40 per month available to the child. The Louisiana Court of Appeal, Third Circuit, affirmed the judgment, and the Supreme Court of Louisiana denied a petition for writ of certiorari. The child's guardian appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which noted probable jurisdiction.
3 common questions
No. Transfers by operation of law or by will pass title without a deed from the transferor, although a fiduciary may later execute a confirmatory deed.
Supporting sources
A state may not deny illegitimate children equal inheritance rights when the classification is not substantially related to an important governmental interest such as the orderly settlement of estates.
Supporting sources
Illegitimate children who are dependent on the deceased worker receive the same benefits as legitimate children because both groups qualify as dependent children under the statute.
Supporting sources
Lars Lindstrom left a trust directing distribution of farmland to his descendants without specifying shares. When the trust terminated, only three grandchildren were alive. The court applied the governing statute and awarded each grandchild the one-third share that would have passed under intestacy if Lars had died at termination owning the land.
1 common questions
The statute treats the designated ancestor as having died intestate at the moment the interest becomes possessory and distributes the property in the shares the living class members would then receive under the applicable intestacy law.
Supporting sources
…this case is the constitutionality of § 12 of the Illinois Probate Act which allows illegitimate children to inherit by intestate succession only from their mothers. Under Illinois law, legitimate children are allowed to inherit by intestate succession from both their mothers and their fathers. I Appellant Deta…