If you have a loved one who recently passed away in Ypsilanti, then you may be concerned about how their estate is being handled. The hope is that they left behind a will. Yet what if they did not? Such is the question that many have come to us here at the Babut Law Offices, PLLC with. Like them, your expectation might be that in such a scenario, it is left to you and/or other interested parties to the estate to determine how to divide up their estate. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
The state has established guidelines on how estates are to be dispersed when one of its residents dies intestate (without a will). According to Section 700.2102 of Michigan’s Compiled Laws, the main beneficiary in such a scenario is the surviving spouse. They are entitled to all of a decedent’s estate if the decedent had no surviving issue (direct descendants) or parents. That interest reduces to the first $150,000 of the estate, plus half of any remaining assets in the following scenarios:
- Any surviving issue of the decedent are also those of the surviving spouse
- The surviving issue are also the issue of the spouse, and the surviving spouse also has issue who are not lineal descendants of the decedent
- If any of the decedent’s surviving issue are not also related to the surviving spouse
If none of your loved one’s issue were biologically related to their surviving spouse, the spouse’s interest in the estate would be the first $100,000, plus half of any remaining assets. They would be entitled to the first $150,000 plus 3/4 of any remaining assets if the decedent left no issue, yet was survived by their parents.
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