If anyone dies without a will or other estate planning mechanism such as a trust, our friends over at the Hawaii legislature have taken care of where your intestate property goes.
The law provides that if you are married or in a registered reciprocal beneficiary relationship (sorry single or unmarried friends), your spouse will get everything if...
no descendant or parent of the decedent (deceased spouse) survives the decedent; or all of the decedent's surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse (children you have together from this relationship) or reciprocal beneficiary and there is no other descendant of the surviving spouse (your spouse's children from another relationship) or reciprocal beneficiary who survives the decedent;
Otherwise, the surviving spouse will get...
The first $200,000
... plus three-fourths of any balance of the intestate estate, if no descendant of the decedent survives the decedent (no existing children from this relationship), but a parent of the decedent survives the decedent;
The first $150,000
... plus one-half of any balance of the intestate estate, if all of the decedent's surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse (children you have together from this relationship) or reciprocal beneficiary and the surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary has one or more surviving descendants who are not descendants of the decedent (your spouse's children from another relationship); or
The first $100,000
... plus one-half of any balance of the intestate estate, if one or more of the decedent's surviving descendants are not descendants of the surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary (deceased spouse's children from another relationship).
A will can ensure that you receive all (instead of a share) of your spouse's property if that is what he or she desires. Contact us to get started with your estate plan today.
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This article is a service of the Law Office of Keoni Souza, LLC, an estate planning law firm in Honolulu, Hawaii. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That's why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session, ™ during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before, and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by contacting our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.
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