Q: In NY intestacy, who is included in "issue of grandparents"? Are aunts and uncles by marriage included?
In case where someone died intestate with no spouse, no descendants at all, and no surviving siblings, parents, or grandparents, my understanding is that the next distributees to be considered are "issue of grandparents".
If one child of the grandparents is still living, and another child of the grandparents is deceased but is survived by a spouse and children:
(1) Is that spouse an eligible distributee?
(2) Are those children? (i.e. the grandchildren of the grandparents of the decedent)
A:
Estates, Powers &Trusts Law Section 4-1.1 states:
“6) One or more grandparents or the issue of grandparents (as hereinafter defined), and no spouse, issue, parent or issue of parents, one-half to the surviving grandparent or grandparents of one parental side, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation, and the other one-half to the surviving grandparent or grandparents of the other parental side, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation; provided that if the decedent was not survived by a grandparent or grandparents on one side or by the issue of such grandparents, the whole to the surviving grandparent or grandparents on the other side, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation, in the same manner as the one-half. For the purposes of this subparagraph, issue of grandparents shall not include issue more remote than grandchildren of such grandparents.”
If someone dies without a Will and there is no spouse, no children (or grandchildren), no parents, and no siblings (or heirs) then grandparents come next and their heirs (as far as a grandchild). Spouses are not entitled because they are not heirs of the Grandparent.
A: In relation to the decedent, the issue of his or her grandparents would be his or her aunts and uncles and their children (cousins) and descendants of cousins. Half of the estate would go to the aunts and uncles on one side and half to the aunts and uncles on the other side (everyone has two sets of grandparents). If all the decedent ever had were two aunts/uncles total, then the living one would inherit half of the estate and the children (not spouse) of the deceased one would inherit half of the estate in equal shares.
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