If you die without a will, that is called dying “intestate.” How complicated it gets from that point forward depends on at least a few key factors.
First, how many individuals would be in line to inherit? A spouse, one or more children, siblings, parents? If you have children and your spouse is the parent of those children, in Ohio, if you have a surviving spouse, your assets (those not already owned jointly) will be inherited by your spouse. The house, the car, the boat, you name it. It gets more complicated if your spouse is not the parent of all your children, as both the spouse and children will be entitled to a portion of your estate.
Your spouse, assuming she is the parent of your children, will most likely still have to go through the probate process (made easier if you had made out a will AND a trust beforehand) but not too complicated, usually. (Always best to have an estate planning attorney help with the process because it can be challenging to navigate.) Things can get really problematic if multiple heirs are vying for your worldly goods and there is no will to provide direction on your wishes.
Let’s go through a possible and not uncommon scenario to see what may happen to your “stuff” if you die without a will here in Cincinnati.
Let’s say your spouse died several years ago. You have three grown children and a younger brother with whom you’ve always been close.
Two of your children are responsible adults; the third is not and has been in trouble with the law a time or two, is unemployed most of the time, and has a gambling problem and some drug addiction issues. Your brother, who has not been as successful in life as you but holds his own, helped you restore your vintage Corvette. He has always assumed he would inherit it “if anything ever happened to you “. He manages to pay his bills and do okay, but he is in a lower income bracket. You own your home, mortgage-free, and it is currently valued at $652,000, not including contents which would probably add another $100,000. You have some investment accounts, each with an assigned beneficiary (your two responsible children) and another $56,000 in a savings account—no debt to speak of.
You are killed in an auto accident, and it quickly comes to light that you didn’t have a will. What happens now without a will to direct how your assets should be distributed? The State of Ohio will step in and make the decisions about who gets what. And in this case, the decisions are not likely to be what you would have made. Since you have three children, the state will likely decide to divide all your assets equally among them.
Your brother doesn’t get the Corvette as he had always expected. Or any cash you might have wanted to give him to help financially make things a little easier. He won’t get anything. Further, the state will probably require liquidation of everything, including the house, furnishings, cars, etc., so the assets can then be divided equally among your children. Your two responsible adult children will know that handing their sibling over $275,000 in cash is not a good idea. They will know that money will simply fuel the gambling problem and, even worse, allow the substance abuse to accelerate, perhaps even leading to premature death.
So there you have it. Without a will, your brother gets nothing, and your troubled child is possibly given a ticket to an early grave. In this case, I would have helped you, as my client, to ensure your brother received what you wanted him to have. And we could talk about setting up a special trust for your troubled child to be used to fund ways to overcome the addictions. Still leaving ample for your two other children. None of us know what the future holds. I encourage my clients never to assume they will have time to get their affairs in order. Think about your family and what might happen if you don’t take that step. Let’s get this done. Call me at 513-399-7526. Or visit my website www.davidlefton.com and schedule a consultation from there.