Intestate Succession and Probate Administration
California Intestacy
When a person dies without a valid will (or with a will that fails to dispose of all property), California's intestacy statutes govern. Key concepts: the surviving spouse's share depends on whether the decedent left children, parents, or siblings, and on whether the property is community or separate. Under the Probate Code, a surviving spouse generally takes all community property and a share of separate property that varies with the number of surviving children, parents, and siblings. If no spouse, property passes to issue by representation, then to parents, then to siblings' issue, then to more remote relatives, with a final escheat to the state.
Representation and Classification
Candidates must distinguish per stirpes (by representation) from per capita distributions and understand California's modern representation rules for descendants of different generations. Also know that adopted persons and, in many contexts, nonmarital children are treated as issue, and that half-blood relatives count.
Probate Administration
Probate is the court-supervised process of validating the will, appointing a personal representative, marshaling and appraising assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing the residue. Traps include: property passing outside probate (trust, joint tenancy, beneficiary designations); small estates using simplified procedures (affidavit or summary administration); and the difference between formal probate and a spousal property petition. Creditors' claims deadlines are heavily tested.
Worked Example
Decedent dies intestate survived by a spouse and two children, with $200,000 community property and $300,000 separate property. The spouse takes all community property and, with two children surviving, one-third of the separate property; the children share the remaining two-thirds of separate property by representation.