When someone dies without a will in Florida, the state does not leave asset distribution to family members to sort out. It follows a fixed legal formula, and that formula does not account for who you intended to take care of or what you assumed would happen. The rules come from Florida's intestate succession statutes, and they apply automatically to any estate that does not have a valid will directing otherwise.
Under Florida Statute Chapter 732, titled property and assets without a named beneficiary must go through probate, and the court distributes them according to a strict priority order. The line starts with a surviving spouse and descendants, moves to parents, then to siblings, and continues outward from there. If no qualifying heirs can be located, the property can eventually pass to the State of Florida through a process called escheat.
This is the part that surprises most people. If the deceased had children only with the surviving spouse, and the surviving spouse has no other children, then the spouse inherits the entire estate. But under Florida law, if either party has children from outside the relationship, the formula changes. In that situation, the surviving spouse receives one-half of the estate, and the remaining half is divided equally among the descendants. This can create complications for blended families that no one planned for while everyone was alive.
Florida's homestead laws apply a separate rule to the primary residence when someone dies intestate with both a surviving spouse and descendants. The surviving spouse does not receive outright ownership of the home. Instead, they receive a life estate, meaning the right to live there for the rest of their life. The descendants hold a remainder interest and receive the property after the spouse's death. For many families, this arrangement creates practical complications around selling, refinancing, or maintaining the property.
Not everything passes through intestate succession. Assets with named beneficiaries, such as life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death bank accounts, transfer directly to those beneficiaries regardless of what the succession formula says. Property held jointly with right of survivorship also passes outside of probate. These designations function independently of whether a will exists, which means they are among the most consequential decisions a person makes about their estate, often without realizing it.
Unmarried partners receive nothing under Florida's intestate succession laws, regardless of the length or nature of the relationship. Stepchildren are excluded unless they were legally adopted. Long-time companions, domestic partners, and individuals who considered themselves family but have no legal relationship to the deceased are not recognized by the formula. For these relationships, only a valid estate planning document can create a legal right to inherit.
Borell Law has assisted Florida families with estate planning and probate matters for more than 36 years. The outcome described here is what happens by default when there are no instructions in place. There are documents and legal structures that exist specifically to change that outcome, and putting them in place is something the firm has helped thousands of Florida families do.
This is general information, not legal advice. Every case is unique; consult your Florida attorney first.
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