If a person dies without a will, who will inherit their assets?

If a person dies without a will, the person or persons who will inherit the assets are determined by statutes of the state of Florida. When someone dies without a will, we call that dying intestate, meaning there was no will, and the statutes will determine who inherits. Generally, we look for any surviving spouse first. We’ll also look to descendants – children, possibly grandchildren if any children predeceased – and then next in line would be parents, and then siblings, and it goes on from there.

The situation can become a lot more complicated if the person who died had children or descendants who were not a product of the surviving spouse. Conversely, if the surviving spouse has children or descendants that are a product of another relationship, from someone other than the person who died, things do get a lot more complicated.