What are the descendants of a parent who dies without a will entitled to?

If she did not have a will her spouse will be entitled to half of her estate, if she has children, if she died first. Her spouse is entitled to open her estate and nominate an administrator.

Mom had kids (including you) in a prior marriage. She has remarried to a man (her husband at time of her death) who has kids of his own. Mom predeceases husband (step-dad) (with no will??). Death with no will means anything she owned goes 50% to spouse and 50% to kids via intestacy laws. If the property was jointly owned with husband, it goes to the survivor. I?m not sure what you mean by $160,000 in bankruptcy. Do you mean she has those outstanding debts? Or maybe she had that amount discharged in bankruptcy. I need more information about the parents building, such as what happened to the proceeds of the sale. Were they put in a joint account, an account for her, or where? Not sure what the life insurance is about. If she was beneficiary but predeceased, that should go to the contingent beneficiary. Any assets the step-dad (her husband) owned that she didn't would be in his name and go to his heirs / legatees. I think you should schedule a call with an attorney to talk about this. I don?t think there?s a lot you can do, but I?d have to as you a lot of questions to get a really good picture to be certain as to what is happening here. I've only been able to guess off what you have said.

If there is no will then assets held solely in her name would go to her heirs: half to the surviving spouse and half divided equally among her children, born or adopted, with the share due a deceased child going to that child's descendants. Any property jointly held by her with another (her husband) would go to the surviving joint tenant. To receive a distribution as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy you have to survive the insured otherwise the contingent beneficiary receives the distribution. If an asset has a designated beneficiary then the asset goes to the designated beneficiary and does not pass through probate.