The following are excerpts from Minnesota’s intestacy laws. Please reference the full body of the Uniform Probate Code at the Minnesota Legislature for any changes to those laws that may not be reflected below.
You can also open the Minnesota Intestacy Evaluator™ to see the distribution of a Minnesota intestate estate based upon unique family and financial circumstances.
524.1-201. GENERAL DEFINITIONS
Subject to additional definitions contained in the subsequent articles which are applicable to specific articles or parts, and unless the context otherwise requires, in chapters 524 and 525:
(6) “Child” includes any individual entitled to take as a child under law by intestate succession from the parent whose relationship is involved and excludes any person who is only a stepchild, a foster child, a grandchild or any more remote descendant.
(7) “Child of assisted reproduction” means a child conceived by means of assisted reproduction by a woman other than a child conceived pursuant to a gestational agreement.
(11) “Descendant” of an individual means all of the individual’s descendants of all generations, with the relationship of parent and child at each generation being determined by the definition of child and parent contained in this section.
(16) “Divorce” includes an annulment, dissolution, and declaration of invalidity of marriage.
(17) “Estate” includes all of the property of the decedent, trust, or other person whose affairs are subject to this chapter as originally constituted and as it exists from time to time during administration.
(28) “Heirs” means those persons, including the surviving spouse, who are entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of a decedent.
(43) “Property” includes both real and personal property or any interest therein and means anything that may be the subject of ownership.
524.2-101. INTESTATE ESTATE
(a) The intestate estate of the decedent consists of any part of the decedent’s estate not allowed to the decedent’s spouse or descendants under sections 524.2-402, 524.2-403, and 524.2-404, and not disposed of by will. The intestate estate passes by intestate succession to the decedent’s heirs as prescribed in this chapter, except as modified by the decedent’s will.
(b) A decedent by will may expressly exclude or limit the right of an individual or class to succeed to property of the decedent passing by intestate succession. If that individual or a member of that class survives the decedent, the share of the decedent’s intestate estate to which that individual or class would have succeeded passes as if that individual or each member of that class had disclaimed an intestate share.
524.2-102. SHARE OF THE SPOUSE
The intestate share of a decedent’s surviving spouse is:
(1) the entire intestate estate if:
(i) no descendant of the decedent survives the decedent; or
(ii) all of the decedent’s surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse and there is no other descendant of the surviving spouse who survives the decedent;
(2) the first $225,000, plus one-half of any balance of the intestate estate, if all of the decedent’s surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse and the surviving spouse has one or more surviving descendants who are not descendants of the decedent, or if one or more of the decedent’s surviving descendants are not descendants of the surviving spouse.
524.2-103. SHARE OF HEIRS OTHER THAN SURVIVING SPOUSE
Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the decedent’s surviving spouse under section 524.2-102, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes in the following order to the individuals designated below who survive the decedent:
(1) to the decedent’s descendants by representation;
(2) if there is no surviving descendant, to the decedent’s parents equally if both survive, or to the surviving parent;
(3) if there is no surviving descendant or parent, to the descendants of the decedent’s parents or either of them by representation;
(4) if there is no surviving descendant, parent, or descendant of a parent, but the decedent is survived by one or more grandparents or descendants of grandparents, half of the estate passes to the decedent’s paternal grandparents equally if both survive, or to the surviving paternal grandparent, or to the descendants of the decedent’s paternal grandparents or either of them if both are deceased, the descendants taking by representation; and the other half passes to the decedent’s maternal relatives in the same manner; but if there is no surviving grandparent or descendant of a grandparent on either the paternal or the maternal side, the entire estate passes to the decedent’s relatives on the other side in the same manner as the half;
(5) if there is no surviving descendant, parent, descendant of a parent, grandparent, or descendant of a grandparent, to the next of kin in equal degree, except that when there are two or more collateral kindred in equal degree claiming through different ancestors, those who claim through the nearest ancestor shall take to the exclusion of those claiming through an ancestor more remote.
524.2-104. REQUIREMENT THAT HEIR SURVIVE DECEDENT FOR 120 HOURS
An individual who fails to survive the decedent by 120 hours is deemed to have predeceased the decedent for purposes of homestead, exempt property, and intestate succession, and the decedent’s heirs are determined accordingly. If it is not established that an individual who would otherwise be an heir survived the decedent by 120 hours, it is deemed that the individual failed to survive for the required period. This section is not to be applied if its application would result in a taking of intestate estate by the state under section 524.2-105.
524.2-105. NO TAKER
If there is no taker under the provisions of this article, the intestate estate passes to the state.
524.2-106. REPRESENTATION
(a)Application. If representation is called for by this article, paragraphs (b) and (c) apply.
(b)Decedent’s descendants. In the case of descendants of the decedent, the estate is divided into as many shares as there are surviving children of the decedent and deceased children who left descendants who survive the decedent, each surviving child receiving one share and the share of each deceased child being divided among its descendants in the same manner.
(c)Descendants of parents or grandparents. If, under section 524.2-103, clause (3) or (4), a decedent’s intestate estate or a part thereof passes by “representation” to the descendants of the decedent’s deceased parents or either of them or to the descendants of the decedent’s deceased paternal or maternal grandparents or either of them, the estate or part thereof is divided in the following manner:
(1) In the case of descendants of the decedent’s deceased parents or either of them, the estate or part thereof is divided into as many equal shares as there are (i) surviving descendants in the generation nearest the deceased parents or either of them, and (ii) deceased descendants in the same generation who left surviving descendants, if any. Each surviving descendant in the nearest generation is allocated one share, and the surviving descendants of each deceased descendant in the same generation are allocated one share, to be divided in the same manner as specified in paragraph (b).
(2) In the case of descendants of the decedent’s deceased paternal or maternal grandparents or either of them, the estate or part thereof is divided into as many equal shares as there are surviving descendants in the generation nearest the deceased grandparents or either of them that contains one or more surviving descendants. Each surviving descendant in the nearest generation is allocated one share.
524.2-107. DEGREE OF KINDRED AND KINDRED OF HALF BLOOD
The degree of kindred shall be computed according to the rules of the civil law. Relatives of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood.
524.2-108. AFTER-BORN HEIRS
An individual in gestation at a particular time is treated as living at that time if the individual lives 120 hours or more after birth.
524.2-113. INDIVIDUALS RELATED TO DECEDENT THROUGH TWO LINES
An individual who is related to the decedent through two lines of relationship is entitled to only a single share based on the relationship that would entitle the individual to the larger share.
524.2-802. EFFECT OF DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE, ANNULMENT, AND DECREE OF SEPARATION
A person whose marriage to the decedent has been dissolved or annulled is not a surviving spouse unless, by virtue of a subsequent marriage, the person is married to the decedent at the time of death. A decree of separation which does not terminate the status of husband and wife is not a dissolution of marriage for purposes of this section.