Legal Question in Elder Law in California

I assume you mean if there was no will and no spouse. In that case you first look to subsequent generations - children, grand children if not living children, and so forth. If there are no living descendents, then you go back the other way, to the parents or any living direct ancestors. If there is no one living in the direct line in either direction, then you look to the nearest relative, or relatives if there is more than one person in the same degree of relation. A half sibling would be a likely candidate to fit that distinction, but only knowing the full set of living and dead relatives and what state the deceased died in can you make a decisive determination of intestate succession.