When someone dies without a will in NY, what constitutes "next of kin". What order of relatives?

Question

Specifically, who decides what constitues next of kin for purposes of inheritance?. My fathers aunt died without a will. At the time of her death she had one living brother and 15 neices and nephews. So who inherits? It would all go to her brother, would it not?
Thanks.

Answer 1

Intestate law. It would go to decedent's brothers and sisters and to the issue of deceased brothers and sisters. If she had only a brother surviving and no other sibling predeceased her having children survive, the estate would go to the surviving brother.

New York Intestate Succession Laws

If any part of a New York decedent's estate is not effectively disposed of by will, the intestate share will be distributed in the following order and manner:

1. Surviving spouse. A surviving spouse is generally first in line to get any assets from the intestate estate. However, the amount a surviving spouse is entitled to varies as follows:

* A surviving spouse is entitled to the entire intestate estate if the decedent is not survived by issue (i.e., descendants like children and grandchildren).
* If the decedent is survived by issue, a surviving spouse gets the first $50,000, plus one-half of the remaining property in the intestate estate.

2. Heirs other than surviving spouse. Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse as indicated above, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes as follows to:

1. Decedent's issue, taking by representation.
2. Decedent's parent or parents equally.
3. Issue of decedent's parents, taking by representation.
4. If none of the above relatives are available, but the decedent is survived by one or more grandparents or immediate issue of grandparents (i.e., decedent's aunts and uncles), half of the estate passes to the paternal grandparents if both survive, or to the surviving paternal grandparent or to the issue of the paternal grandparents (taking by representation) if both are deceased. The other half passes to the maternal relatives in the same manner. If there is no surviving grandparent or issue of grandparent on either the paternal or maternal side, the entire estate passes to the relatives on the other side in the same manner as the half portion would. For purposes of this category, issue of grandchildren does not include issue more remote than grandchildren of such grandparents.
5. Great-grandchildren of decedent's grandparents, split one-half to the great-grandchildren of the paternal grandparents side and one-half to the great-grandchildren of the maternal grandparents side, with per capita distributions to each side. If there are no great-grandchildren of grandparents on one side, the whole amount goes to the other half (and still split per capita).

3. State of New York. If there is no taker under any of the above provisions, the intestate estate passes (escheats) to the state of New York.

Link to the New York Statute is below:

Answer 2

What Mark H. said misses the mark.

If the intestate has a spouse and no children (not just issue: adopted children count the same as issue) the spouse takes all. One child, the split is even up. Two or more children, the children take two thirds of the estate and the spouse takes one third.

To work out the nieces and nephews, one would need to know if they were all children of the one surviving brother. If so, then bro takes all and nieces/nephews take bupkes. Otherwise, the nieces and nephews take the shares that would have gone to their parents.This is "per stirpes" distribution.

Answer 3

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RE:
When someone dies without a will in NY, what constitutes "next of kin". What order of relatives?
Specifically, who decides what constitues next of kin for purposes of inheritance?. My fathers aunt died without a will. At the time of her death she had one living brother and 15 neices and nephews. So who inherits? It would all go to her brother, would it not?
Thanks.

Answer 4

Intestate Succession New York

Answer 5

Funny! 100!

Answer 6

Generally, yes, it will all go to a living sibling first.