What is intestate succession?
Intestate succession is the set of rules that decides who inherits property when a person dies without a valid will. In the U.S., it is governed by state law, and many states base their statutes on the Uniform Probate Code. If there is a will, it generally controls; how to make one is covered in how to write a will.
Intestacy rules apply only to property that passes through probate. Assets with a named beneficiary, such as life insurance or retirement accounts, and property held in joint tenancy usually pass outside the will and outside intestacy.
- Meaning
- Inheritance by statute when there is no valid will
- U.S. source
- State intestacy statutes, many based on the Uniform Probate Code
- Typical order
- Spouse and descendants, then parents, then siblings
- Korea
- Civil Act Articles 1000 to 1010
Being related is not the same as being an heir. Closer relatives cut off more distant ones, so grandchildren usually inherit only if their own parent has already died.
How U.S. intestacy works
- Surviving spouse: in many states the spouse takes everything if all the children are also the spouse's children; otherwise the spouse takes a set amount plus a fraction.
- Descendants: children share what the spouse does not take. If a child has died, that child's descendants take the child's share by representation, under schemes such as per stirpes.
- Other relatives: with no spouse or descendants, property usually goes to parents, then siblings and their descendants, then more distant kin.
- Escheat: if no eligible relative can be found, the property passes to the state.
For Korean students, a case set that works through divorce, heirs and representation in one family is in Everyday Korean Law in Five Questions: Divorce by Agreement and by Trial, Heirs and Representation, Minimum Wage, Unfair Dismissal and Workplace Harassment. A worked problem on inheritance order and statutory shares is in Intestate Succession in Korea: Order of Heirs, Statutory Shares and Representation, Plus Key Everyday Law Terms and Dispute Bodies, and everyday-law cases on marriage, adoption and inheritance in Ten Everyday Law Case Problems in Korea: Marriage Requirements, In-Laws, Full Adoption, Inheritance, Minimum Wage, Leave, Harassment, Unions and Social Insurance.
| United States | Korea | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | State statutes, often based on the Uniform Probate Code | Civil Act Articles 1000 to 1010 |
| Spouse's share | All, or a set amount plus a fraction, depending on the state | One and a half times a co-heir's share |
| Predeceased child | Descendants take by representation | Descendants and spouse take by representation |
Korea's rules
Under Korea's Civil Act, heirs rank as descendants, then ascendants, then siblings, then collateral relatives within the fourth degree, and the closest in degree inherit first. The spouse inherits together with descendants or ascendants and receives a share increased by half. A 1990 amendment let a son-in-law, not only a daughter-in-law, inherit by representation, which the Supreme Court upheld on March 9, 2001. Real estate transfers after death are covered in property deeds and recording.
On April 25, 2024, Korea's Constitutional Court struck down the forced share for siblings, and a provision letting family courts strip inheritance rights from heirs such as parents who seriously breached their duty of support took effect on January 1, 2026. Marriage rules that affect inheritance are compared in marriage law in the U.S..
After you work out the shares, add them up. If the shares do not sum to the whole estate, something went wrong, and this one check catches most mistakes.
- Do grandchildren inherit if their parent is alive?
- Usually not. A living child takes the share, and grandchildren inherit only by representing a parent who has died.
- Does the surviving spouse get everything?
- In many states, yes, if all the children are the couple's shared children; otherwise the spouse shares with the children.
- What happens if there are no relatives?
- The estate escheats, meaning it passes to the state.
References
- Cornell LII, Per stirpes. Cornell LII
- Cornell LII, Intestate succession. Cornell LII
- Korea Supreme Court Decision 99Da13157, March 9, 2001. Korea Law Information Center