Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York
Wills
Under NY law, if a person dies without a will and has minor children, does his estate pass to his minor children or can other related family members put a claim on her estate.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Wills
It depends if the decedent had a spouse. If there was a spouse, 1/2 would go to the spouse and 1/2 would go to the children.
If the decedent had no spouse, or if the spouse died before the decedent, the estate would go to the children, to be divided evenly between the children.
Mike.
Re: Wills
I assume that there is no surviving spouse.
In that case the entire estate goes to the children. If a child (who has a child) has predeceased the parants, the child's child takes the share.
Re: Wills
If there were no surviving spouse, and only minor children, the entire estate would pass to them. Since they are minors, the Court would require someone to be appointed to be their guardian and the funds would be administered through the probate court.