ESTATE & TRANSITION  |  WHAT EVERY CALIFORNIA HOMEOWNER SHOULD KNOW

What Happens When Someone Dies Without a Will or Trust in California

Most people assume their family knows what to do. California law has its own answer to that question, and it is not always the one people expect.

There is a phrase estate planning attorneys use that I have come to appreciate: dying intestate. It is the legal term for passing away without a valid will or trust in place. And while the word sounds formal and distant, the situation it describes is anything but.

In California, roughly two-thirds of adults have no estate plan at all. That means no will, no trust, no documented instructions for what happens to their home, their savings, or their belongings when they are gone. What fills that gap is not the family's collective understanding of what the person would have wanted. It is California's intestate succession laws, a rigid hierarchy of rules written into the Probate Code that determines who inherits what, on the state's terms, not yours.

This post is about what those rules actually say, who gets caught off guard by them, and why understanding them matters whether you are thinking about your own planning or trying to navigate a situation a family member left behind.

I am not an estate planning attorney, and nothing here is legal advice. But I work regularly with families navigating these situations from the real estate side, and I have seen enough of what happens when planning was not in place to know that this information is worth sharing plainly.

What Intestate Succession Actually Means

When someone dies without a will or trust, California does not simply hand everything to the surviving family and let them sort it out. The estate goes through probate, a court-supervised process that can take a year or more and cost thousands of dollars in statutory fees, and a judge applies the state's intestate succession rules to determine who inherits what.

The state is not trying to be unkind. The rules exist to provide order when there is no documented plan. But the order California imposes is not the same as the order most people would choose for themselves, and that gap is where families run into serious problems.

"The state is not trying to be unkind. But the order California imposes is not the same as the order most people would choose for themselves."

It is also worth being clear about what intestate succession does and does not cover. The rules only apply to assets that would have passed through a will. Assets that already have their own transfer mechanism bypass intestate succession entirely, regardless of whether a will exists.

Assets that pass OUTSIDE of intestate succession:

  •  Property held in a living trust

  •  Assets with a named beneficiary (life insurance, IRAs, 401(k)s)

  •  Joint tenancy property with right of survivorship

  •  Community property with right of survivorship

  •  Payable-on-death bank accounts

  •  Transfer-on-death deeds for real estate

Assets that DO go through intestate succession:

  •  A home titled solely in the deceased person's name

  •  Bank accounts without a beneficiary designation

  •  Personal property and vehicles in the deceased's name alone

  •  Business interests held individually

How California Decides Who Inherits

California is a community property state, and that distinction shapes everything about how intestate succession works here. Before the inheritance rules even kick in, the law draws a line between community property and separate property, because each is treated differently.

Community Property vs. Separate Property

Community property is generally everything a married couple acquired together during the marriage, earned income, jointly purchased assets, the family home if it was bought with marital funds. In California, each spouse owns half of all community property. When one spouse dies without a will, the surviving spouse automatically keeps their own half and inherits the deceased spouse's half as well. Community property, in most cases, passes cleanly to the surviving spouse.

Separate property is different. It includes assets owned before the marriage, inheritances received by one spouse, and gifts made to one spouse individually. When separate property is involved, the surviving spouse does not automatically inherit everything. California splits it according to how many children the deceased had, and that is where things get complicated for blended families.

The Inheritance Hierarchy

California's intestate succession laws follow a specific order of priority, set out in Probate Code sections 6400 through 6414. The broad framework looks like this:

California's intestate succession order:

  1.  Surviving spouse or registered domestic partner

  2.  Children (including legally adopted children)

  3.  Grandchildren (if the children have predeceased)

  4.  Parents

  5.  Siblings

  6.  Grandparents

  7.  More distant relatives

  8.  The State of California (if no living relatives can be found)

Stepchildren do not automatically inherit unless they were legally adopted. Unmarried partners do not inherit unless registered as domestic partners with the California Secretary of State.

The Situations That Catch People Off Guard

The rules above sound straightforward in the abstract. In practice, they produce outcomes that families genuinely did not see coming. Here are the scenarios I see most often, and the ones I think are most important for your situation to understand.

The Blended Family With Separate Property

This is one of the most painful situations in California probate, and it is far more common than most people realize.

Imagine a husband and wife who have been married for fifteen years. He has children from a previous marriage. They live together in a home that he owned before they married, which means it is his separate property. He passes away without a will or trust.

Under California's intestate succession rules, his separate property does not go entirely to his surviving wife. Instead, it is split: one-third to the surviving spouse and two-thirds to his children from the prior marriage. That means his widow, who has lived in that home for years, suddenly shares ownership with her stepchildren. And if she cannot afford to buy them out, she may be forced to sell the home she has lived in and leave.

This is not a hypothetical. It is a scenario that plays out in California probate courts regularly, and it is entirely preventable with a properly drafted trust or will.

"His widow shares ownership with her stepchildren. If she cannot afford to buy them out, she may have to sell the home she has lived in for years."

The Long-Term Unmarried Partner

Two people live together for twenty-five years. They share a home, share finances, share a life. One of them passes away without a will or trust, and without having registered as domestic partners with the California Secretary of State.

Under California law, the surviving partner inherits nothing. Regardless of how long the relationship lasted, how deeply intertwined their lives were, or what anyone assumed would happen, the law does not recognize an unmarried partner as an heir. The estate passes to blood relatives the deceased may not have been close to in decades.

For couples who have chosen not to marry but have built a life together, this is one of the most urgent reasons to have an estate plan in place.

The Surviving Spouse Who Assumes Everything Is Covered

Many married couples assume that because they are married, everything automatically passes to the surviving spouse. In California, that assumption is only partially correct.

Community property, meaning assets acquired during the marriage, does generally pass to the surviving spouse. But separate property, and the distinction between the two is not always obvious, follows a different set of rules. And even community property may require at minimum a Spousal Property Petition to formally transfer title, which is a simplified court process but still a process.

The assumption that marriage alone solves the estate planning question is one of the most common and costly misconceptions I encounter.

Stepchildren and Informal Family Relationships

California's intestate succession laws are built around legal relationships, not emotional ones. Stepchildren do not inherit unless they were legally adopted. Grandchildren only inherit if their parent, the deceased's child, has already died. Caregivers, close friends, and chosen family members have no standing under intestate succession regardless of the role they played in the deceased's life.

For people whose family structures don't fit the traditional legal mold, intestate succession is almost certain to produce an outcome they would not have chosen.

What Happens to the Home Specifically

For most California homeowners, especially those in the 55+ age group, the home is the most significant asset in the estate. Understanding what happens to it without a plan in place is worth particular attention.

If the home is titled solely in the deceased person's name and there is no trust, no joint tenancy, and no transfer-on-death deed, the home goes through probate. In California, that process typically takes twelve to eighteen months, sometimes longer. During that time the home cannot be sold without court approval, and the carrying costs, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance continue to accumulate.

Once probate concludes, the court distributes the home according to intestate succession. If multiple heirs inherit jointly, which is common when there are adult children, they become co-owners of the property and must agree on what to do with it. If they cannot agree, any one of them can petition the court for a partition, which can force a sale of the home regardless of what the other heirs want.

I have worked with families navigating exactly this situation, and the combination of grief, family dynamics, and financial pressure makes it genuinely difficult. It is also one of the clearest examples I know of why a trust, which bypasses probate and gives the successor trustee clear authority to act, makes such a meaningful difference for the people left behind.

A Will Helps, But It Does Not Skip Probate

One important clarification that often surprises people: having a will does not avoid probate in California. A will tells the court what you wanted, but the court still supervises the distribution. Probate is required for estates above the current threshold regardless of whether a will exists.

What a will does is give you the ability to override California's default inheritance rules. Instead of the state deciding who gets what, your will directs the court to follow your wishes. That is significantly better than dying intestate. But a living trust, which bypasses probate entirely and allows your successor trustee to act without court involvement, is generally the more effective tool for most California homeowners.

Important: this post is educational, not legal advice.

California intestate succession laws are current as of 2026. Individual situations vary significantly based on how assets are titled, the family structure involved, and the specific facts of each estate.

If you are navigating an intestate situation or want to make sure your own planning is in order, please consult a qualified estate planning attorney. I am happy to provide a referral to attorneys in our area who work regularly with these situations.

What You Can Do With This Information

If you have a will and a trust in place and your home is properly titled into the trust, you are in good shape. The next step is making sure your documents are current and reflect your actual family situation today, not the one you had when you signed them.

If you have a will but no trust, your estate will still go through probate. A conversation with an estate planning attorney about whether a trust makes sense for your situation is worth having.

If you have neither, the information in this post describes what California will decide for your family. The process of putting a plan in place is not as complicated or expensive as most people assume, and the difference it makes for the people you love is real and significant.

And if you are in the middle of navigating an estate situation right now, whether as a surviving spouse, an adult child, or a successor trustee trying to figure out what comes next, I work with families in exactly these circumstances on the real estate side and I am always glad to help think through the next steps.

If you have questions or would like a referral to an estate planning attorney or probate professional in the area, I am easy to reach.

Lori Little

Realtor - DRE #01758039

TLC Real Estate / RE/MAX Executive

209-427-1687

lori.little@tlcrealtors.com