Heirs at Law: Estate Planning Definition

When planning your estate, you should know who your heirs at law are. An heir at law is someone who would inherit your property under state law if you pass away intestate, meaning without a will or trust in place. The rules vary by state, so it’s helpful to understand who qualifies and what rights they have to your estate.

A financial advisor can help you organize your estate plan and coordinate the distribution of your assets to your chosen beneficiaries.

What Is the Meaning of Heirs in Law?

The term heirs in law, or heirs at law, refers to anyone who has a legal right to inherit the assets of another person if they die without a last will and testament in place. This is known as dying intestate.

Every state has laws regarding intestacy. These laws dictate who can inherit your assets if you pass away without a legal will and how much of your estate each person is entitled to receive. If you die intestate and the state is unable to locate your heirs in law, then the state holds on to all of your assets until an heir comes forward.

Who Are Considered Legal Heirs?

Each state defines heirs at law differently. But generally, heirs in law follow a hierarchy, starting with people who have the first right of inheritance. They’re followed by the people who have the next right of inheritance, and so on.

Here’s what a typical order of inheritance may look like for someone who dies intestate:

Spouse
Children
Parents
Siblings
Nieces and nephews
Grandparents
Aunts and uncles
Cousins

This order assumes that the deceased person was married. If they were not married, then the probate court would look to their children next as heirs at law. If they had no children, then their parents would be next in line to inherit. In the scenario both of the person’s parents are deceased, then their siblings would be the next heirs at law. The probate court would continue generation by generation until they’re able to find someone who is the deceased person’s legal heir.

But do stepchildren or foster children count as heirs at law? Typically no, unless the person who passed away had formally adopted them. Common-law spouses and domestic partners may or may not be treated as heirs at law, depending on the laws of the state in which the couple lived.

States follow the intestacy laws for where the deceased person lived when determining heirs at law. That said, it’s possible that some of your assets may be subject to another state’s rules in certain situations. If you lived in Massachusetts but owned a vacation home in Florida, for example, that property may be subject to Florida’s probate laws instead.

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What Rights Do Heirs at Law Have?

If someone passes away without a will in place, the heirs at law have some important rights. First, they must be notified of the probate process. Probate is the court-supervised process of validating the will of a deceased person, known as a decedent. It involves identifying the person’s final assets, paying their last debts and distributing their estate’s property to the proper heirs.

The executor is in charge of overseeing this process. You can name an executor in a will. But if you have no will, anyone can petition the probate court to become executor, including an heir at law.

Heirs at law also have the right to challenge the terms of a will if the deceased person does leave one behind. This may be necessary if an heir at law is excluded from someone’s will in violation of state probate laws.

Say you’re married but have been separated from your spouse for several years. You draft a will leaving the entirety of your estate to your children. Since all state probate laws allow legal spouses the right to inherit, your estranged spouse could file a civil case to claim their share of assets. If the court agrees that they’ve been unfairly excluded from your estate, they can be awarded an amount that’s equivalent to what they’re entitled to under your state’s probate laws.

Who else can challenge a will? Technically, any heirs at law with legal standing could choose to do so. Again, if an heir believes they’ve been unfairly excluded, they could raise an issue with the will in probate court.

How to Protect Heirs at Law

If you know who your heirs at law are, the easiest way to protect their inheritance rights is to draft a legal will. A will is a legal document that allows you to specify who you want to inherit your assets and which assets you want them to inherit. You can also use a will to name a legal guardian for minor children.

Drafting a will won’t supersede inheritance laws for certain heirs. For example, you can’t use a will to disinherit a spouse. However, you may be able to disinherit a child or another heir. If you’re ready to make a will, you can do so with the help of an estate planning attorney. It’s also possible to draft a will online.

You can take estate planning one step further by establishing a trust. A trust allows you to transfer assets to the control of a trustee. The trustee is responsible for managing the trust’s assets on behalf of one or more beneficiaries, according to your wishes. You might consider establishing a trust if you have a larger estate and you want to leave specific instructions for the management of your assets. Certain types of trusts may also yield tax benefits for estate planning.

Heirs at Law vs. Beneficiaries

Though many people confuse the terms, heirs at law and beneficiaries are not the same thing. State intestacy laws determine heirs at law. These are the people who inherit your property if you die without a valid will or trust. Beneficiaries, on the other hand, are people you name directly in legal documents like a will, trust or a financial account with a transfer-on-death or payable-on-death designation.

Beneficiaries take priority over heirs at law because their names are written into binding contracts. For example, if you name your niece as the beneficiary on a life insurance policy, she receives that payout no matter what your will says. Even if intestacy rules would normally direct the money to your spouse or children, the insurer must honor the beneficiary designation on file.

This difference often comes up with retirement accounts, bank accounts and insurance policies. While a will may say one thing, the account paperwork usually controls what happens. That means it’s important to review and update your beneficiary designations regularly. A divorce, remarriage or the birth of a child can create conflicts if old beneficiaries remain on file.

Disputes sometimes happen when heirs at law expect to inherit but are excluded by beneficiary designations. For example, a parent might leave a will giving everything to their children but forget to update an old 401(k) that still lists a sibling as the beneficiary. In most cases, the sibling would get the account. The children could not override that designation without showing that it was due to fraud, a mistake or lack of capacity.

The safest way to avoid these conflicts is to coordinate your estate planning documents with your account records. Wills and trusts should align with the beneficiaries you list on retirement plans, insurance policies and bank accounts. Taking time to review everything together reduces the chance of heirs at law and named beneficiaries ending up at odds after your death.

Assets That Bypass the Will Entirely

There are some assets never touch the will or the probate process at all. Take a bank account with a payable-on-death designation, a life insurance policy or a retirement account like a 401(k) or IRA. Whoever’s name sits on that paperwork as the designated recipient gets the asset directly, full stop, the moment the parent dies. The will’s instructions never come into play for these particular items. That’s because legally, they’re not part of what a probate court considers when settling the estate.

Joint bank accounts work the same way if they were set up with rights of survivorship. Picture a parent who added one adult child to their checking account years back, maybe just so that child could help pay bills during a health scare. When the parent passes, that account would belong entirely to the co-owner. It doesn’t matter if the will says all the kids should split things evenly. The account simply isn’t part of what the will controls.

This catches a lot of families off guard, and it’s often mistaken for one sibling getting preferential treatment. In reality, it’s usually just the result of outdated paperwork. A parent who filled out a life insurance form decades ago then never touched it again despite a falling-out with one child or the birth of a new grandchild, has effectively locked in that original decision, whether or not it still reflects what they’d actually want.

So, if you’re a sibling looking at an inheritance and the math doesn’t add up to what the will seems to promise, start by asking whether specific accounts had a named beneficiary or a co-owner. That’s usually the missing piece, rather than a mistake in the execution of the will.

Bottom Line

Heirs at law is simply another way of referring to the people who could inherit your estate if you were to die without a will. Drafting a will can help your heirs to avoid legal and financial headaches after you pass away. It’s also important to understand what your rights are as an heir at law if a family member should pass away.

Estate Planning Tips

Consider speaking with a financial advisor about the potential tax implications your heirs might face and how to minimize them through estate planning. Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard, either. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with vetted financial advisors who serve your area. From there, you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide who feels right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
When planning your estate, it’s important to consider any circumstances or situations that might lead to issues for your heirs. For example, say you remarried after divorce. If your spouse has children, where will they fit into your estate plan alongside your own children? Or if you have a domestic partnership but are not married, how might that affect your partner’s ability to inherit? Talking with an estate planning attorney can help you to smooth the inheritance path for your heirs.