Intestate Succession Washington State: Who Inherits When There Is No Will

When someone dies without a will in Washington, state law — not family wishes — determines who inherits everything. Washington's intestate succession statutes apply a rigid hierarchy that favors surviving spouses and then biological or legally adopted descendants. If the estate seems simple but family relationships are complicated — a second marriage, estranged children, a domestic partner, stepchildren — the statutory result can surprise everyone involved. Here is how Washington's inheritance laws actually work when there is no will.

Community Property Changes Everything

Before understanding who inherits what, you need to understand how Washington's community property framework affects the analysis. Washington is one of nine community property states. Property acquired during a marriage using earned income belongs equally to both spouses, regardless of whose name is on the title.

When a married person dies intestate in Washington, the estate must first be sorted into two categories:

Community property: Acquired during the marriage. The surviving spouse already owns half. Intestate succession only applies to the decedent's half of the community property.

Separate property: Owned before the marriage, or received as a gift or inheritance during the marriage. The decedent owned this outright, and intestate succession applies to all of it.

This distinction is fundamental. The surviving spouse does not automatically receive everything in a community property state when there is no will — they receive their own half of the community property plus whatever the intestate succession laws award them from the decedent's separate property.

The Washington Intestate Succession Hierarchy

When the Decedent Was Married

Scenario 1: Surviving spouse + children who are all also the surviving spouse's children

The surviving spouse inherits all community property and all separate property. The children inherit nothing through intestate succession (though the surviving spouse may leave it to them later). This is the most common scenario and produces the result most families expect.

Scenario 2: Surviving spouse + children from a prior relationship

This is where the statute departs sharply from common assumptions. When the decedent had children from a prior relationship (who are not the surviving spouse's children), the estate splits:

• Community property: The surviving spouse receives all of the decedent's half of community property
• Separate property: The surviving spouse receives one-half of the decedent's separate property. The other half goes to the decedent's children (divided equally among them, regardless of whether they are from the current or prior relationship)

A blended family with significant separate property and no will can produce a result where a surviving spouse and stepchildren become co-owners of the same assets — including a house, a business, or an investment account — with no mechanism to resolve conflicts other than negotiation or litigation.

Scenario 3: Surviving spouse, no children

The surviving spouse inherits everything: all community property and all separate property. Other relatives (parents, siblings) receive nothing as long as a surviving spouse exists.

When the Decedent Was Not Married

If there is no surviving spouse or registered domestic partner, the estate passes in this order:

1. Descendants (children, then grandchildren by representation): All children share equally. If a child has predeceased the decedent, that child's share passes to their children (grandchildren of the decedent) equally.

2. Parents: If no descendants survive, both parents share equally. If only one parent survives, that parent inherits everything.

3. Siblings: If no parents survive, siblings divide the estate equally. Half-siblings share equally with full siblings.

4. More distant relatives: If no siblings survive, the estate goes to grandparents, then to aunts and uncles, then to their children (cousins), by statutory formula.

5. The state: If absolutely no heirs exist, the estate escheats to Washington State. In practice, this is rare — the statutes search fairly broadly through the family tree before escheat occurs.

Domestic Partners

Washington state-registered domestic partners have the same inheritance rights as surviving spouses under intestate succession. An unregistered cohabiting partner — regardless of how long the relationship lasted — has no intestate inheritance rights at all. If your partner did not leave a will, and you are not a registered domestic partner, you inherit nothing through intestate succession.

Children and Their Rights

All biological and legally adopted children have equal rights in intestate succession. There is no distinction between marital and non-marital children for inheritance purposes.

Stepchildren are not included in Washington's intestate succession laws. A stepchild — a child of your spouse who you have not formally adopted — inherits nothing from a stepparent who dies without a will, regardless of the nature of the relationship.

Posthumous children — children conceived before but born after the parent's death — are treated as if they were living at the time of death for inheritance purposes.

Intestate Succession Requires Probate

A common misconception is that dying without a will means heirs automatically receive assets. The opposite is usually true. Without a will designating beneficiaries and an executor, assets held in the decedent's name alone must go through formal probate for a court to legally authorize their distribution to the statutory heirs.

Without a will, no one is pre-designated as Personal Representative. The court appoints an administrator from among those who have legal priority — typically in this order: surviving spouse, then adult children, then parents, then siblings. The appointed administrator must then complete the full probate process, including creditor notification, asset inventory, and formal distribution according to the statutory hierarchy above.

The absence of a will also makes obtaining nonintervention powers — Washington's mechanism for avoiding constant court supervision — more complicated. An intestate surviving spouse can obtain nonintervention powers over community property if all surviving children are also their children. Otherwise, the PR may need to secure signed waivers from every legal heir or face a supervised probate with more court involvement.

How the TEDRA Agreement Saves Blended Families

When the intestate succession statute produces a result the family finds unworkable — most commonly the co-ownership situation in blended families — Washington's Trust and Estate Dispute Resolution Act (TEDRA) provides a solution. Under RCW 11.96A, all interested parties can sign a Non-Judicial Binding Agreement to redistribute assets differently than the statute requires.

A TEDRA agreement is filed with the Superior Court and carries the same legal force as a court order. It can give the surviving spouse the full separate property outright, or give children their share immediately, or establish a payment schedule — any arrangement the parties agree to. The statute allows "virtual representation," meaning a parent can sign on behalf of minor children who share the same legal interest.

TEDRA agreements require careful legal drafting to be recognized by the court and the IRS. They are not do-it-yourself documents, but they offer a powerful escape valve from the rigid statutory inheritance order when the statutory result would cause family conflict or practical administration problems.

What a Will Would Have Changed

Every specific outcome described above — stepchildren receiving nothing, blended families sharing assets with co-inheriting children, domestic partners inheriting only if registered — would be resolved by a valid will that expressly addresses the situation. Washington's intestate succession laws are a default, not a preference. They apply only when no will exists to override them.

Administering an intestate estate in Washington requires navigating both the statutory inheritance order and the probate process simultaneously. The Washington Probate Process Guide covers the complete steps for intestate administration, including how to apply for Letters of Administration and when a TEDRA agreement can solve a blended-family distribution problem without litigation.

See more Washington guides →