Also known as: sucesion legitima · sucesiones legítimas · intestate succession · legal succession
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
An inheritance process in which property passes according to statutory default rules when a decedent dies without a will disposing of all assets.
Sean Steele left a trust providing a class gift to his descendants without specifying shares. When the interest vested, only two living descendants remained. The property passed to those two in the shares they would have received if Sean had died intestate at that moment owning the assets.
Samantha Stone died owning a parcel of real property. No deed was executed after her death. Title passed directly to her heirs by operation of law under the applicable probate code.
Santiago Sanchez died intestate survived by an illegitimate child he had acknowledged. The child claimed an equal share with legitimate siblings. The court applied equal protection principles to permit the illegitimate child to inherit under state intestacy rules.
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 caseSelena Singh died leaving both legitimate and illegitimate dependent children. The illegitimate children sought workers compensation death benefits. The court held that dependent children receive equal treatment regardless of legitimacy under the applicable succession rules.
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.
View caseSebastian Santos died intestate leaving an unacknowledged illegitimate child. State law required formal acknowledgment for inheritance. The court enforced the requirement and denied the child a share of 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.
View caseSkylar Sullivan died intestate survived by a child born out of wedlock. The child sought to inherit but had not obtained a court order of filiation during the father's lifetime. The court denied the claim for failure to satisfy the statutory proof requirement.
Robert Lalli claims to be the illegitimate son of Mario Lalli, who died intestate on January 7, 1973, in New York. Robert’s mother, who died in 1968, was never married to Mario. After Mario’s widow, Rosamond Lalli, was appointed administratrix of the estate, Robert and his sister Maureen petitioned the Surrogate’s Court for Westchester County for a compulsory accounting, asserting their entitlement to inherit as Mario’s children. Rosamond Lalli opposed the petition. She argued that Robert and Maureen had not obtained an order of filiation during Mario’s lifetime as required by New York Estates, Powers, and Trusts Law § 4-1.2. Robert conceded the absence of such an order. He presented evidence. This included a notarized document in which Mario referred to him as “my son” when consenting to his marriage. There were also affidavits from individuals stating that Mario had openly acknowledged Robert and Maureen as his children. The Surrogate’s Court ruled that Robert and Maureen were excluded as distributees. On direct appeal, the New York Court of Appeals affirmed the decision. While the case was pending before the United States Supreme Court, the Court decided Trimble v. Gordon and vacated and remanded for further consideration. On remand, the New York Court of Appeals adhered to its prior disposition. The Supreme Court noted probable jurisdiction and heard the case.
View caseAny part of a decedent's estate not effectively disposed of by will passes by intestate succession to the decedent's heirs. The will controls only the property it expressly addresses. The remaining assets are distributed according to the default statutory rules.
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The property is distributed among the class members living when the interest vests in possession. Distribution occurs in the shares the members would receive if the designated ancestor had died intestate owning the subject matter at that time.
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A surviving spouse takes the entire intestate estate when the decedent is survived only by descendants who are also descendants of the spouse. The statute awards the full estate to the spouse under that condition.
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A fee simple is inheritable by both lineal and collateral heirs. When the owner dies without a spouse or descendants, collateral relatives such as cousins take under the intestacy statute.
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