Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
My cousin in CA died intestate and six first cousins are the legal heirs (no spouse, kids, living grandparents or parents). My deceased cousin has one first cousin on her mother's side and five on her father's side (her father had 2 brothers, one had 2 children, one has 3). Being that I am not the administrator and have a hard time finding out info from the lawyers and the administrator, I want to know if all the cousins are equals or does the estate get split in thirds (1/3 cousin on mother's side, 1/3 uncle's kids, 1/3 father's kids).
1 Answer from Attorneys
Under Probate Code section 6402, if there is no issue of the decedent, and no living parents, then everything goes to the issue of the dead parents. If all of the aunts and uncles have already died, then the six cousins take six equal shares because they are all of equal degree of kinship to your late cousin.
However, your post implies that your cousin's father has living children. So instead each living aunt or uncle (blood relation only) gets one full share, and the children of each dead aunt or uncle divides their parent's share equally among them. Cousins who are the children of a living aunt or uncle get noting.
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