When a Florida resident dies without a valid will, Chapter 732 of the Florida Probate Code decides who inherits, in what order, and in what shares. The Florida intestate succession chart starts with the surviving spouse and descendants, then moves outward to parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and eventually the relatives of the deceased’s last spouse before the estate escheats to the state. The rules are mechanical, and the outcome often surprises families who assumed a loved one’s wishes were obvious.
What the Chart Actually Controls
Florida’s intestacy statutes only govern assets that pass through probate: property titled solely in the deceased’s name with no beneficiary designation, such as individually owned bank accounts, real estate, and personal belongings.1Justia Law. Florida Statutes 732.101 – Intestate Estate
A large share of most people’s wealth never enters probate at all. Life insurance payouts, retirement accounts with named beneficiaries, and property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship transfer automatically to the person named or the surviving co-owner. The chart only governs what is left after those transfers happen, which sometimes makes the probate estate far smaller than the total estate.
What the Surviving Spouse Inherits
A surviving spouse’s share depends on whether the deceased left descendants and whose descendants they are.2Justia Law. Florida Statutes 732.102 – Spouse’s Share of Intestate Estate
The spouse takes the entire intestate estate in two situations: the deceased had no living descendants at all, or all of the deceased’s descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse and the surviving spouse has no other children from a different relationship. That covers the typical married couple with shared children and no stepchildren on either side.
The spouse’s share drops to one-half of the intestate estate in two other situations:
- The deceased had one or more descendants who are not descendants of the surviving spouse, such as children from a prior marriage.
- All of the deceased’s descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse, but the surviving spouse has additional children who are not related to the deceased.
In both of those cases, the other half passes to the deceased’s descendants, distributed per stirpes.
Homestead Follows Its Own Rules
The family home is treated separately. When a person dies with both a surviving spouse and descendants, the spouse does not receive outright ownership of the homestead. The spouse takes a life estate, meaning the right to live in and use the property for life, and the descendants receive the remainder interest, which vests at death and takes effect when the spouse eventually passes.3Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 732.401 – Descent of Homestead
The spouse has an alternative. Instead of the life estate, the spouse can elect to take an undivided one-half interest in the homestead as a tenant in common, with the descendants taking the other half. The election must be made within six months of the decedent’s death by recording a notice in the official records of the county where the property sits, and it is irrevocable once filed.
A life estate means the spouse can live in the home but cannot sell it without the descendants’ cooperation. In blended families, that arrangement often becomes a source of conflict. The tenant-in-common option removes the life estate problem but creates co-ownership, which brings complications of its own.
These homestead rules do not apply if the property was already held in tenancy by the entireties or joint tenancy with right of survivorship. Those forms of ownership pass the property automatically to the surviving co-owner.
Who Inherits When There Is No Surviving Spouse
Without a surviving spouse, the entire estate flows to the highest-ranking group of heirs who are alive. Once the chart finds a group with a living member, everyone in lower tiers gets nothing. The order runs like this:
- Descendants: children, grandchildren, and further descendants, distributed per stirpes.
- Parents: if no descendants survive, both parents inherit equally, or the surviving parent takes the full share.
- Siblings: if neither parent survives, the estate goes to brothers and sisters, along with the descendants of any sibling who died first.
- Grandparents, then aunts and uncles: if no siblings survive, the estate splits into two halves, one for the paternal side and one for the maternal side. Each half goes first to the grandparents on that side, equally or all to the survivor. If no grandparents survive on that side, that half passes to the aunts and uncles and their descendants.
- Kindred of the last deceased spouse: if no blood relatives survive on either side, the estate passes to the relatives of the deceased’s last spouse, as though that spouse had survived and then died intestate.
If one side of the family has no surviving relatives at all, the entire estate goes to the other side rather than splitting.4Justia Law. Florida Statutes 732.103 – Share of Other Heirs
How Per Stirpes Divides a Deceased Heir’s Share
Florida uses per stirpes distribution for both direct descendants and collateral relatives such as siblings and their children.5Florida Senate. Florida Code Chapter 732 – Probate Code: Intestate Succession and Wills Per stirpes means “by the roots.” The estate divides at the first generation that has at least one living member, and the children of a deceased heir step into their parent’s place.
An example. Suppose a person dies with three children, and one of those children has already died leaving two grandchildren of the deceased. The estate splits into three equal shares at the children’s generation. The two surviving children each take one-third. The deceased child’s one-third share is split equally between that child’s two children, who each receive one-sixth. The grandchildren do not share equally with their aunts and uncles; they inherit only what their parent would have taken.
Adopted Children, Nonmarital Children, and Half-Blood Heirs
Adopted children are treated identically to biological children for inheritance purposes. An adopted child is a descendant of the adoptive parents and a member of the adoptive family for all intestacy purposes, and adoption generally severs the child’s right to inherit from the biological parents and their relatives.6Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 732.108 – Adopted Persons and Persons Born Out of Wedlock
Florida carves out exceptions for stepparent and close-relative adoptions. When the spouse of a natural parent adopts that parent’s child, the adoption does not cut off the child’s relationship with the natural parent or their family. The same protection applies when a stepparent marries the natural parent after the other natural parent has died, or when a close relative adopts the child. In those cases, the child can inherit from both the adoptive family and the relevant natural family.
A child born outside marriage is automatically a descendant of the mother and can inherit through the mother’s family without any additional steps. Inheriting from or through the father requires one of three things: the parents participated in a marriage ceremony, even if the marriage was legally void; paternity was established by a court adjudication; or the father acknowledged paternity in writing. Florida’s usual statute of limitations does not apply to paternity determinations made to identify heirs in a probate proceeding, so a child can establish paternity even years after the father’s death if the evidence supports it.
The half-blood rule applies when inheritance passes to collateral relatives such as siblings, aunts, uncles, or cousins. A half-blood relative shares only one parent with the deceased; a whole-blood relative shares both. When both are inheriting in the same tier, half-blood relatives receive half the share that whole-blood relatives receive. If every surviving relative in that tier is half-blood, they all inherit equally with full shares.7Florida Senate. Florida Code Chapter 732 – Probate Code: Intestate Succession and Wills – Section 732.105
Children conceived before the decedent’s death but born afterward are treated as though they were alive at the time of death, provided they are born alive.
When the State Takes the Estate
If no heirs exist at any level of the chart, the estate escheats to the state of Florida. The property is sold, and the proceeds go to the Chief Financial Officer and are deposited into the State School Fund.8Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 732.107 – Escheat
Escheat is not always permanent. A person who believes they are entitled to the proceeds has 10 years from the date of payment to the Chief Financial Officer to reopen the administration and assert a claim. After that window closes, the state’s ownership becomes absolute.