When someone dies without a will in Oregon, their probate assets pass under the state’s intestate succession rules in Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 112. Oregon intestate succession puts the surviving spouse and children first, then works outward to parents, siblings, grandparents, and more distant relatives if no closer heir exists. The spouse’s share is not automatic: it depends on whether every child of the deceased is also a child of the surviving spouse.
What the Surviving Spouse Inherits
Two questions decide the spouse’s share. Did the deceased leave descendants? And if so, are all of them also descendants of the surviving spouse?
- If all of the deceased’s descendants are shared with the surviving spouse, the spouse inherits the entire net intestate estate.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 112.025 – Share of Surviving Spouse if Decedent Leaves Descendants
- If at least one descendant is not the spouse’s (a child from a prior relationship, for example), the spouse receives half of the net intestate estate and the descendants share the other half.1Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 112.025 – Share of Surviving Spouse if Decedent Leaves Descendants
- If the deceased left no descendants at all, the surviving spouse inherits everything, even if the deceased’s parents or siblings are still living.2Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 112.035 – Share of Surviving Spouse if Decedent Leaves No Descendant
The blended-family split catches people off guard. A spouse who expected to inherit the whole estate can find themselves sharing it with stepchildren.
Real estate follows the same rule unless it was titled to avoid probate. If the deceased was the sole owner of a home, the surviving spouse does not automatically take the house; they take their statutory share of the estate, which can force a sale. Property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship is different, because it passes directly to the surviving co-owner outside of probate.
What Children and Descendants Inherit
If there is no surviving spouse, the entire net intestate estate passes to the deceased’s descendants. If there is a spouse but the estate is split, the descendants divide the other half the same way.3Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 112 – Intestate Succession and Wills
Oregon distributes by “representation.” The estate is divided into equal shares at the first generation that has at least one living member. Each living descendant in that generation takes a share, and the shares that would have gone to deceased descendants are pooled and split equally among their own descendants using the same method.3Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 112 – Intestate Succession and Wills
An example. Suppose the deceased had three children: Child A (alive), Child B (deceased, one grandchild), and Child C (deceased, two grandchildren). The estate splits into three shares at the children’s generation. Child A takes one-third. Child B’s one grandchild takes one-third. Child C’s two grandchildren share Child C’s one-third, so each takes one-sixth.
When There Is No Spouse or Descendant
Oregon then works outward through the family tree in a fixed order:
- To the deceased’s surviving parents, in equal shares.3Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 112 – Intestate Succession and Wills
- If no parent survives, to the deceased’s brothers and sisters equally, with a deceased sibling’s share passing to that sibling’s children by representation.3Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 112 – Intestate Succession and Wills
- If no sibling or sibling’s descendant survives, to the grandparents equally, with a deceased grandparent’s share passing by representation to their descendants, meaning aunts, uncles, and cousins.3Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 112 – Intestate Succession and Wills
- If no qualifying relative can be found after a diligent search appropriate to the estate’s value, the estate escheats to the State of Oregon.4Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 112.055 – Escheat
Escheat is uncommon, but it happens when someone outlives their close family and never writes a will. A will naming a friend, unmarried partner, or charity avoids that outcome.
Adopted Children, Stepchildren, and Half-Blood Relatives
Oregon treats adopted children the same as biological children. Once an adoption is finalized, the adopted child inherits from and through the adoptive parents as if born to them, and generally loses automatic inheritance rights from the biological parents.5Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 112.175 – Adopted Persons
Two exceptions preserve the biological link. If a stepparent adopts a child, the child keeps inheritance rights from the biological parent married to the stepparent. And if a biological parent dies and the surviving parent’s new spouse then adopts the child, the child retains inheritance rights from the deceased biological parent.5Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 112.175 – Adopted Persons
Stepchildren who have not been legally adopted do not inherit under Oregon intestacy at all. This is one of the most common sources of unintended disinheritance in blended families. Without a formal adoption or a will, a stepchild receives nothing, even after decades in the household.
Half-blood relatives inherit on equal terms with whole-blood relatives. A half-sibling receives the same share a full sibling would.3Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 112 – Intestate Succession and Wills
Rules That Can Change Who Inherits
The 120-Hour Survival Requirement
An heir must survive the deceased by at least 120 hours (five days) to inherit. If it cannot be shown by clear and convincing evidence that one person outlived the other by five days, Oregon treats each as having predeceased the other. This keeps property from passing through one estate and immediately into another. The rule is set aside if applying it would cause the estate to escheat.3Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 112 – Intestate Succession and Wills
The Slayer Rule
A person who feloniously and intentionally kills the deceased forfeits all inheritance rights and is treated as if they had died first. That rule reaches intestate shares, will bequests, life insurance, joint tenancy, and transfer-on-death accounts. A final criminal conviction is conclusive; without a conviction, a probate court can still make its own finding by a preponderance of the evidence. For jointly owned property with survivorship rights, the joint tenancy is severed into two equal halves rather than fully lost, so the killer keeps their own half and the victim’s half passes through the victim’s estate.3Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 112 – Intestate Succession and Wills
Lifetime Gifts Counted as Advancements
A large lifetime gift can be counted against an heir’s share only if the deceased declared it in writing as an advancement or the heir acknowledged it in writing. Without that documentation, all heirs are treated as if none of them received anything during the deceased’s life, even where one clearly did.6Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 112.135 – When Gift Is an Advancement, Valuation of Advancement
Assets That Never Enter the Intestate Estate
A lot of what people own does not follow the intestacy rules at all. These assets pass directly to a named beneficiary or a surviving co-owner:
- Life insurance proceeds go to the beneficiary named on the policy.
- Retirement accounts, including 401(k)s, IRAs, pensions, and deferred compensation plans, pass to the designated beneficiary.
- Real estate held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship transfers automatically to the surviving co-owner.
- Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death bank and brokerage accounts pass to the person named on the account.
- Assets held in a living trust are distributed under the trust’s terms.
Anything without a beneficiary designation or survivorship arrangement falls into the intestate estate and is divided by the statutory formula. A checking account without a payable-on-death designation, a vehicle titled only in the deceased’s name, or a rental property owned solely by the deceased all go through probate.
How the Estate Actually Gets Distributed
Every intestate estate goes through Oregon probate unless it qualifies for the small estate alternative. The court appoints a personal representative to manage the process, following a preference order that begins with the surviving spouse (if an heir), then other heirs, and then other qualified persons. The representative generally must post a bond, though the court can waive it when the representative is the sole heir or when no assets are known.7Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 113 – Initiation of Estate Proceedings
Within 90 days of appointment, the personal representative files an inventory of estate property.8Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 113.165 – Inventory Creditors get individual notice if known and a published notice if not. Claims are barred if not filed within the later of four months from publication or 45 days from the date individual notice was mailed.9Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 115.003 – Personal Representative to Make Diligent Search for Claimants
When Debts Outrun Assets
If the estate cannot pay every claim, Oregon sets the payment order. Support of the surviving spouse and dependent children comes first, followed by estate administration expenses, funeral expenses, debts and taxes with federal preference, and then all other claims in the order established by statute. Heirs receive their shares only after valid claims are paid. When debts consume the estate, heirs get nothing, but they also owe nothing personally beyond what the estate can pay.10Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 115.125 – Order of Payment of Expenses and Claims
The Small Estate Alternative
Not every intestate estate needs full probate. Oregon allows a small estate affidavit when the total fair market value is under $275,000, with two sub-limits: no more than $75,000 in personal property (excluding manufactured homes) and no more than $200,000 in real property and manufactured homes. Debts and liens do not reduce the value for these thresholds; the test is what the assets are worth, not the equity.11Oregon Judicial Department. Instructions for Simple Estate Affidavit
The affidavit process is faster and cheaper, but the same intestacy rules decide who receives the assets. It changes the administrative path, not the inheritance outcome.