Jonathan Craig Reed
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If You Die Without a Will or Trust
If you die without a will or trust leaving property with a title (such as a house or a car or bank account) in your name only, that property can be probated which means the Probate Court will transfer the property to a spouse or relative if a probate proceeding is started. Here is a brief summary of Nevada law on this subject. This law is same for all Nevada residents, whether they live in Las Vegas, or Searchlight.
NRS Chapter 134 deals with who get the property when a person dies without a will. "Intestate" is the legal term to describe dying without a will.
The separate property of a person who dies without a will is distributed as follows:
If the person has a spouse and one child, each gets half. N.R.S. 134.040(1).
If the person has a spouse and two or more children, the spouse gets a third. The other two thirds go to the children in equal shares, except that if one of the children has died, but left descendants, the descendants take the dead child's share. N.R.S. 134.040(2).
If the person leaves a spouse, no descendants, and at least one parent, the spouse gets half and the other half goes equally to the two parents, or all to the surviving parent. N.R.S. 134.050(1).
If the person leaves no descendants or parents, but is survived a spouse and siblings (brothers and sisters), one half goes to the spouse and the other half goes in equal shares to the siblings. N.R.S. 134.050(2).
If the person leaves no spouse or descendants, everything goes to the parents or the survivor of them. N.R.S. 134.050(3).
If the person leaves a spouse, but no parents, descendants, or siblings, the spouse gets it all. N.R.S. 134.050(4).
If the person leaves no spouse, parents, or descendants, the it all goes to the siblings, or if a sibling has died to that sibling's children. N.R.S.134.060.
Addtional rules for who gets what if a person dies without a will are found at other sections of N.R.S. Chapter 134.
However, if the gross value of the estate, after deducting mortgages and other security interests, does not exceed $100,000, special preference is given to minor children and/or the surviving spouse regardless of whether or not there is a will. N.R.S. 146.070 in these cases can trump the above statutes as well at the right of estate creditors. We can say that in Clark County (which includes Las Vegas, Boulder City, Henderson and North Las Vegas) the special provisions for minor children and/or the surviving spouse do not depend on how poor or how wealthy the minor children or surviving spouse are. Likewise, N.R.S. 146.050 provides homestead protection to surviving spouses and minor children.
If a person dies without a will, their property will only go the State of Nevada if no surviving spouse or relative comes forward to claim it. N.R.S. 134.120. (That process is called escheat.) Only once in our many years of experience as lawyers have we been asked to assist a client in claiming money that had escheated to the State of Nevada. There is a six year statute of limitations for claiming the money; the process is not difficult but somewhat time consuming.
Contact Information:
Reed & Mansfield
6655 W. Sahara Ave., Suite B-200
Las Vegas, NV 89146
phone: 702-343-0494
regular business hours: 9am-5pm (Pacific Coast time) M-F
most days: We will also take your call between
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