When a California resident dies without a will, the state’s intestate succession rules decide who inherits. The surviving spouse or registered domestic partner is almost always first in line and usually receives the largest share; after that, the estate flows down a strict hierarchy of children, parents, siblings, and more distant relatives. How much the spouse actually gets depends on whether the property is community or separate, and on which other family members are still alive.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6401 There is no room for personal preferences here, and unmarried partners, close friends, and stepchildren who were never legally adopted are shut out entirely.
Community Property and Separate Property Are Treated Differently
California is a community property state. Most of what a married person or registered domestic partner earns or acquires during the marriage is jointly owned, no matter whose name is on the account or title. Wages, real estate bought with marital income, and investment gains during the marriage all count as community property.
Property one spouse owned before the marriage, inherited individually, or received as a personal gift stays separate property, even after decades of marriage.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6401 The distinction is not academic: community and separate property follow completely different distribution rules when there is no will.
Trouble arises when the two get mixed. If a spouse used an inheritance to pay the mortgage on a jointly purchased home, or dropped separate savings into a shared checking account, the line blurs. Courts use tracing methods to follow the money back to its source. When the contributions can’t be untangled, the entire commingled amount is presumed to be community property. Spouses can also formally change property from separate to community (or the other way) through a transmutation agreement, but California requires an express written declaration for the change to be legally valid.
What the Surviving Spouse or Domestic Partner Inherits
The surviving spouse’s share is the first and usually the largest piece of the estate. California treats registered domestic partners identically to spouses for inheritance purposes.
Community Property
The surviving spouse inherits the decedent’s entire half of the community property. Because the surviving spouse already owns the other half outright, the practical result is that all community property ends up with the surviving spouse.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6401 Children, parents, and siblings receive nothing from the community estate.
Separate Property
Separate property is where the split gets complicated. The surviving spouse’s share depends entirely on who else survived the decedent:1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6401
- No children, parents, or siblings survive: the spouse inherits all of the separate property.
- One child (or the descendants of one deceased child) survives: the spouse inherits one-half.
- Two or more children survive: the spouse inherits one-third.
- No children survive, but parents or siblings do: the spouse inherits one-half.
Whatever the spouse does not take passes to the children, parents, or siblings in the priority order below. For couples who pooled all their finances during the marriage and never kept anything separate, the spouse effectively inherits everything, because there is no separate property left to divide.
When Marital Status Is in Question
The marriage or domestic partnership must have been legally valid at the moment of death. If the couple had filed for divorce but the final judgment was never entered, the surviving spouse still qualifies to inherit. A legal separation, which does not end the marriage, also preserves inheritance rights.2California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6122 Only a finalized dissolution or annulment cuts off a spouse’s claim.
Who Inherits When There Is No Surviving Spouse
When the decedent was unmarried or the spouse has already died, the entire estate flows through a fixed family hierarchy. Courts work down the list until they find a living relative.3Justia. California Probate Code 6400-6414 – Intestate Succession Generally
- Children and their descendants. Surviving children split the estate equally. If a child died before the decedent but left children, those grandchildren step into their parent’s place.
- Parents. If no children or grandchildren survive, both parents inherit equally, or the surviving parent takes the full share.
- Siblings and their descendants. If no parents survive, brothers and sisters split the estate equally. A deceased sibling’s share passes to that sibling’s children.
- Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. If no closer relatives exist, the estate moves outward to grandparents and then to aunts, uncles, and their descendants.
When a deceased relative’s share passes down to their own children, California uses a method called “representation” rather than traditional per stirpes. Shares are divided equally at the nearest generation that has living members, and any shares belonging to deceased members of that generation are pooled and redistributed equally among the next generation down.4California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 240 The difference from per stirpes is small in simple families but can shift real money in estates with multiple branches where some members have died.
If the court exhausts every branch of the family tree and finds no living relative, the estate escheats to the State of California.5Justia. California Probate Code 6800-6806 Escheatment is rare. Courts will trace distant cousins before letting the state take ownership.
Who Counts as an Heir
Not every family relationship translates into inheritance rights. California’s definitions of “child” and “relative” trip up more families than the basic priority list does.
Adopted Children
Legally adopted children inherit from their adoptive parents exactly as biological children would. The adoption severs the legal relationship with the biological parents, so an adopted child generally cannot inherit through intestacy from a birth parent.
Stepchildren
Stepchildren who were never formally adopted have no inheritance rights under intestate succession. This catches many blended families off guard. A stepparent who raised a child for decades but never completed the adoption leaves that child with no legal claim to the estate. It is one of the strongest reasons to have a will.
Children Born Outside Marriage
A child born outside marriage can inherit from either biological parent as long as the parent-child relationship is legally established. Paternity can be shown through a voluntary declaration, a court order, or genetic testing. The reverse is not automatic. A biological parent can only inherit from a child born outside marriage if the parent both acknowledged the child and contributed to the child’s support or care.6Justia. California Probate Code 6450-6455 – Parent and Child Relationship
Half-Siblings
California treats half-siblings the same as full siblings for inheritance purposes. A half-brother or half-sister receives the same share they would if they shared both parents with the decedent.7California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 6406 Some states halve a half-sibling’s share; California does not.
Unmarried Partners and Friends
Intestate succession has no category for an unmarried partner, no matter how long the relationship lasted, unless the couple was in a registered domestic partnership. Friends, caregivers, and other non-relatives are also outside the system. If the decedent wanted any of these people to inherit, only a will or another estate planning tool could accomplish it.
When an Heir Loses the Right to Inherit
California’s “slayer statute” bars anyone who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent from inheriting anything. The killer is treated as though they died before the decedent, so the estate passes to the next person in line.8California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 250 A criminal conviction conclusively establishes forfeiture, but even without a conviction, an interested party can petition the probate court to make the determination using a preponderance-of-evidence standard. The rule reaches beyond inheritance shares to life insurance benefits, joint tenancy survivorship rights, and any nomination as executor or trustee.
Debts Get Paid Before Heirs Do
Heirs receive nothing until the estate’s debts are paid. In California, creditors have until the later of four months after the personal representative’s authority is first granted, or 60 days after being notified directly, to file claims.9California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 9100 If the estate does not have enough to cover its debts, administrative expenses come first, followed by secured debts, then federal and state priority claims, and general unsecured debts last.10California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 11420 An insolvent estate leaves heirs with nothing, but heirs are not personally liable for what the estate cannot pay.
Small Estate Shortcuts
Not every intestate estate has to go through full probate. California offers faster procedures when the estate is small enough to qualify, and they can save families significant time and legal fees.
For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, if the gross value of the decedent’s California property does not exceed $208,850, heirs can skip probate entirely for personal property such as bank accounts, investment accounts, and vehicles. The process uses a signed affidavit, the death certificate, and proof of entitlement presented to the institution holding the asset. The affidavit cannot be used until at least 40 days after the decedent’s death.11California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 13100 The threshold is adjusted periodically for inflation, so check the current figure before relying on it.
Real estate valued at $69,625 or less (for deaths on or after April 1, 2025) can be transferred through a simplified court petition rather than full probate.12Judicial Branch of California. Check if You Can Use a Simple Process to Transfer Property A judge must approve the transfer after a hearing, but the process is substantially faster and cheaper than a standard probate case. When real estate exceeds this limit, full probate is typically required.