What happens to your assets if you die without any family/will?

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What happens to your assets if you die without any family/will?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

In many places, there are laws surrounding what is called intestate succession. In short, the law will list everyone who may inherit, in what order, and what amount. An example chain of intestacy is:

1. Everything goes to your spouse.
2. If you have no spouse, it goes to your kids.
3. If you have no kids, it goes to your parents.
4. If you have no parents, it goes to your siblings.

Of course, things get complicated when you have multiple kids, a spouse with kids, multiple siblings, etc. The law might even include certain conditions like in a conflict between siblings, any sibling with children might get priority, or something like that. The law hopefully covers enough scenarios. If the law is silent on very a particular situation, then the courts have to decide. Even without a direct family, there is a good chance that you are related to someone in the prescribed law.

If you absolutely have nobody in the chain of succession as prescribed by law, that the state *escheats* your estate. This is the legal way of saying that everything you own goes to the state.

If you want to read how it works in British Columbia, you can find the law [here](https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/09013_01#division_d2e2469).

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