What Happens If You Pass Away Without a Will in Maine?

No one plans to die without a Will. But it happens all the time.

Maybe you have been meaning to make one and just haven't gotten around to it. You might assume you don't need a Will because you are married. Or perhaps you figure your family knows what you would want and will sort everything out when the time comes.

August is National Make-A-Will Month, which makes it a good time to think about a simple question: What would actually happen if you died without a Will?

If you die without a Will in Maine, your property does not simply disappear. The State of Maine does not automatically receive everything you own. Instead, Maine law provides a set of rules that determines who inherits your property.

The problem is that those rules may not match what you would have chosen.

Here is what you should know about what happens if you die without a Will in Maine.

What Does It Mean to Die "Intestate" in Maine?

When someone dies without a valid Will, Maine law considers that person to have died intestate.

Maine's intestate succession laws determine who inherits property when there is no Will. In simple terms, Maine has created a default estate plan for people who do not create one themselves.

Who inherits depends on your family situation. Are you married? Do you have children? Are all of your children also your spouse's children? Do you have living parents?

Your answers to those questions can change what happens to your estate.

That is one of the biggest reasons to have a Will. Creating a Will allows you to make many of these decisions yourself instead of relying on the default rules in Maine law.

Who Inherits If You Die Without a Will in Maine?

There is no single answer to this question.

Maine law looks at which relatives survive you and distributes your intestate estate according to a specific order.

Depending on your circumstances, your property may pass to your spouse, children or other descendants, parents, siblings or their descendants, or more distant relatives.

What if you are not married?

If you are not married and have children, your descendants generally inherit your intestate estate.

When there is no surviving spouse or descendant, your parents generally come next. If your parents have also died, Maine law continues through the family tree to determine who inherits.

Maine's rules reach quite far through the family tree. In some circumstances, descendants of a deceased spouse may even inherit.

Only when Maine law identifies no one who can inherit does the intestate estate pass to the State.

For most families, the more important question is not whether someone will inherit. It is whether Maine law chooses the same people you would have chosen.

Does Your Spouse Automatically Get Everything?

Not necessarily.

Many people assume that if they die without a Will, everything will automatically go to their spouse. Maine law does not always work that way.

A surviving spouse receives the entire intestate estate in certain situations. For example, your spouse receives the entire intestate estate if you have no surviving descendants or parents.

Your spouse may also receive the entire intestate estate when all of your surviving descendants are also your spouse's descendants and your spouse has no other surviving descendants.

Other family situations have different results.

What if one of your parents is still living?

Suppose you die without children, but one of your parents is still living. Under current Maine law, your surviving spouse receives the first $300,000 of your intestate estate plus three-fourths of the remaining balance. Your surviving parent or parents receive the portion that does not pass to your spouse.

What about blended families?

The rules also change for some blended families.

When all of your descendants are also descendants of your surviving spouse, but your spouse has a descendant from another relationship, your spouse receives the first $100,000 plus one-half of the remaining intestate estate.

The result changes again if you have a surviving descendant who is not also a descendant of your surviving spouse. In that situation, your spouse receives one-half of your intestate estate.

This is why it can be risky to assume that "my spouse will get everything anyway."

Your family situation matters.

What Happens If You Have Children?

Children or other descendants may inherit some or all of your intestate estate. The result depends on whether you are married and on your particular family situation.

Without a surviving spouse, your descendants generally inherit your intestate estate.

For married people, the result depends in part on whether your descendants are also your spouse's descendants. It can also depend on whether your spouse has descendants from another relationship.

These distinctions can become particularly important for blended families.

Is an outright inheritance right for every child?

There is also a larger question that Maine's intestacy laws cannot answer for you: Is receiving an inheritance outright the best choice for your child?

A child may be young or may have circumstances that make an outright inheritance inappropriate. Those situations may require additional estate planning beyond a simple Will.

Intestacy laws cannot account for those individual needs. They provide a default set of rules rather than a plan designed for your particular family.

What If You Aren't Married?

Unmarried couples need to pay particular attention to estate planning.

Living together or being in a long-term relationship does not, by itself, give your partner the same inheritance rights as a surviving spouse under Maine's intestacy laws.

As a result, what happens after your death could look very different from what you intended.

Imagine that you and your partner have lived together for many years. You may think of your home, furniture, savings, and other belongings as "ours." However, the way you legally own those assets matters.

Some property may pass to a surviving joint owner or through another arrangement. Other property may become part of the deceased person's estate.

An unmarried partner may not receive property you assumed would go to them if you do not have a Will or another effective estate planning arrangement.

If you want an unmarried partner to inherit from you, put an appropriate plan in place rather than relying on assumptions.

Who Handles Your Estate If You Didn't Name a Personal Representative?

When you make a Will, you can nominate the person you want to serve as your Personal Representative.

A Personal Representative handles the administration of your estate. Their responsibilities may include gathering property, dealing with creditors, handling paperwork, and eventually distributing estate assets to the appropriate people.

But what happens when there is no Will and you never chose someone?

Maine law establishes an order of priority for people who want to serve as Personal Representative.

When no Will gives someone priority, a surviving spouse generally has priority over other heirs. If no surviving spouse will serve, other heirs may have priority. Maine law also includes additional rules about who may serve, what happens when people with the same priority disagree, and when the court may appoint someone without priority.

The important point is simple: without a Will, you did not get to nominate the person you wanted to handle your estate.

That can matter.

The person you trust most to handle your affairs may not be the person who otherwise has priority under Maine law.

What Happens to Your House and Personal Belongings?

Your house, camp, vehicle, furniture, jewelry, family photographs, collections, and other belongings all need to go somewhere when you die.

How you own an asset can affect what happens to it. Other legal arrangements may also determine where an asset goes after your death.

Property that becomes part of your intestate estate generally passes according to Maine's intestacy laws.

Without an effective estate plan, those laws may ultimately determine who receives your belongings. Informal wishes that you shared with family members may not control the outcome.

What about sentimental belongings?

Families do not always disagree over the most valuable assets. Sometimes the hardest disagreements involve things with very little financial value but a great deal of emotional value.

Perhaps one child has always wanted your grandfather's tools. You might have promised a particular piece of jewelry to a granddaughter. Your family may also assume they know what you want to happen to the family camp.

Those conversations can be meaningful, but they are not a substitute for making an effective estate plan.

Does Everything You Own Pass Under Maine's Intestacy Laws?

No.

This is an important distinction.

Your Will and Maine's intestacy laws do not necessarily control every asset you own.

Some assets can pass at death through other arrangements. Examples may include life insurance with a named beneficiary, retirement accounts with beneficiary designations, certain financial accounts, property held in trust, and other assets with valid arrangements for transfer at death.

The form of ownership can also affect what happens to jointly owned property.

Why beneficiary designations matter

Making a Will is only one part of estate planning.

You also need to look at how you own your property and who you named on your beneficiary designations. Your Will may say one thing, while a beneficiary designation or another form of ownership may control what actually happens to a particular asset.

For that reason, it helps to look at your estate plan as a whole rather than thinking only about your Will.

Why a Will Gives You Choices Maine's Default Rules Don't

Maine's intestacy laws serve an important purpose. Someone has to inherit property when a person dies without leaving instructions.

But the law does not know your family.

The law does not know that one child has spent years helping you remain at home. It cannot know that you want a close friend to receive something special or which person you trust to handle your estate.

It also does not know what conversations you have had around your kitchen table.

A Will gives you the opportunity to make your own choices.

Depending on your circumstances and estate plan, a Will can allow you to name the people you want to inherit your property. You can also nominate a Personal Representative, address particular gifts, and make your wishes much clearer for the people you leave behind.

You may look at Maine's intestacy rules and decide that they would produce exactly the result you want.

But it is better for that to be an informed decision rather than an accident.

Don't Let Maine's Default Plan Be Your Estate Plan by Accident

If you do not have a Will, you are not alone. Many people put it off because they think estate planning will be complicated, uncomfortable, or something they can deal with later.

The important thing is to understand what happens if "later" never comes.

Dying without a Will does not mean there is no plan. Instead, Maine's intestacy laws provide the starting point for deciding who receives your intestate property.

Those rules may work reasonably well for some families. For others, they can produce results that are very different from what the person would have wanted.

Making a Will gives you a chance to make those choices yourself.

If you live in Maine and do not have a Will, this is a good time to think about creating one. If you already have an older Will, consider reviewing it to make sure it still reflects your family, your circumstances, and your wishes.

This article is for general educational purposes only and is not legal advice. Estate planning depends on your individual circumstances. If you have questions about your estate plan or Maine's intestacy laws, consider speaking with a Maine estate planning attorney.