Oklahoma Has Specific Laws for Intestate Succession
Video Transcribed: What happens when a person dies without a will in the state of Oklahoma? I’m Tulsa Power of Attorney Lawyer James Wirth, and that’s the question that we’re presenting with what happens. The end result is a lot of times there’s acrimony among the family and friends; there’s fighting over it.
But as far as what happens in court, action needs to be filed with the court just like a probate action where somebody steps forward and says, “I want to be the personal representative.
I’ve got this will. I want the court to accept the will and divide the property according to the terms of the will based on what the decedent wants.”
In this case, there is no will that says the terms. So Oklahoma has specific laws for intestate succession. And it says where the property goes. Generally speaking, if you die, it goes to your kids. If you have no kids, it goes to your parents.
Have no parents, it goes to your siblings. There are rules that cover all of this. If you have ex-wives with kids and other people with kids, it can be very complicated, but the rules cover all those scenarios.
Ultimately, if there’s nobody that it can go to the last list of it is escheats to the state, goes to the state of Oklahoma. But that almost never happens because there’s a wide range of people that come before the state.
So if there’s no will, somebody that has an interest in the estate needs to file a petition for intestate succession, noting that there is no will, requesting the appointment to be the personal representative, and requesting that the estate be divided and sent and dispersed to the heirs based on Oklahoma’s laws of intestate succession.
Hopefully, that answers your question regarding if somebody dies without a will. If you’ve got more particular questions, you’re going to want to talk to an Oklahoma attorney about that. To get that scheduled with somebody at my office, you can go online to makelaweasy.com.
