intestacyn.
Reviewed by Owen Hathaway, AttorneyUpdated June 1, 2026What happens when someone dies without a valid will: state law, not the person, decides who inherits.
Intestacy is the condition of dying without a valid will. When that happens, the decedent's probate property passes by intestate succession, a fixed statutory order of heirs (typically spouse, then children, then more distant relatives) set by state law.
Intestate succession ignores a person's actual wishes, unmarried partners, friends, and charities, and can produce results the decedent would never have chosen. It is the default that estate planning exists to override.
Colorado's intestacy rules are in the Colorado Probate Code (C.R.S. Title 15, Article 11, Part 1); the spouse's share depends on whether the decedent's children are also the spouse's children. Wyoming's intestate succession statute (Wyo. Stat. Title 2, Ch. 4) allocates shares differently depending on who survives the decedent.
Related terms
- personal representativeThe person appointed to settle a deceased person's estate such as gathering assets, paying debts, and distributing the rest. Older terms are executor (with a will) and administrator (without).
- probateThe court-supervised process of proving a will, paying a deceased person's debts, and transferring what's left to the heirs or beneficiaries.
- willA signed, witnessed document that says who gets a person's probate property after death and names an executor to carry it out. It takes effect only at death and only after probate.