NJ Executor Guide
New Jersey Intestacy Laws: Who Inherits When There Is No Will
The rule almost everyone assumes — that a surviving spouse simply inherits everything — is not what New Jersey’s statute says.
A New Jersey spouse inherits the entire estate only in two situations
Under N.J.S. 3B:5-3 the surviving spouse, civil-union partner or domestic partner takes the entire intestate estate only if either no descendant and no parent of the decedent survives, or every surviving descendant of the decedent is also a descendant of the spouse and the spouse has no other surviving descendant. Step-children on either side change the answer.
The spouse’s share, situation by situation
| If this describes the family | What the surviving spouse takes |
|---|---|
| No descendant and no parent survives | The spouse takes the entire intestate estate. |
| No descendant, but a parent survives | The spouse takes the first 25% of the estate — but not less than $50,000 nor more than $200,000 — plus three-quarters of the balance. The parents take the rest. |
| All descendants are shared, and the spouse has no other descendants | The spouse takes the entire estate. |
| All descendants are shared, but the spouse has other descendants | The spouse takes the first 25% ($50,000–$200,000) plus one-half of the balance. |
| One or more of the decedent’s descendants is not the spouse’s | The spouse takes the first 25% ($50,000–$200,000) plus one-half of the balance. |
These are the statutory defaults for the intestate estate — the assets that pass under the will-substitute rules, not assets with a named beneficiary or a right of survivorship, which pass outside it entirely.
Who inherits if there is no spouse (or beyond the spouse’s share)
Anything not passing to the spouse — or the whole estate where there is no spouse — passes under N.J.S. 3B:5-4 in this order: to the decedent’s descendants by representation; then to the parents equally, or the surviving parent; then to the descendants of the parents by representation; then, if a grandparent survives, half to the paternal side and half to the maternal side, with descendants taking by representation — and if one side has nobody, the entire estate passes to the other.
New Jersey intestacy calculator
Describe the family and this applies the statutory formula. It is arithmetic, not advice — and it assumes an ordinary case:
Estimate only. It applies the headline formula to an ordinary case and ignores disqualification rules, adopted and posthumous children, survivorship requirements, the elective share, advancements, and debts and expenses that come off before any of this. A New Jersey attorney can tell you what a specific estate actually does.
The point of the exercise: intestacy is a statutory default, not a reading of what the person would have wanted. Where the result above is not what the family expects, that gap is the reason to have a will — and, for the estate already in front of you, the reason to get the distribution confirmed before you pay anyone.
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Frequently asked questions
Who inherits if there is no will in New Jersey?
The intestate estate passes under N.J.S. 3B:5-3 and 3B:5-4. The surviving spouse, civil-union partner or domestic partner takes a share fixed by the statute, and anything left passes to the decedent’s descendants by representation, then parents, then the descendants of parents, then the grandparents’ side of the family. Nobody in the family chooses the split.
Does a surviving spouse get everything in New Jersey?
Only in two situations. Under 3B:5-3 the spouse takes the entire intestate estate where no descendant and no parent of the decedent survives, or where all of the decedent’s surviving descendants are also the spouse’s and the spouse has no other surviving descendant. In the other cases the spouse takes the first 25% of the estate, subject to a floor of $50,000 and a ceiling of $200,000, plus either three-quarters or one-half of the balance depending on the family.
What does “by representation” mean?
It is the mechanism for a deceased child’s share. Where a descendant who would have inherited died before the decedent, that share passes down to their own descendants rather than lapsing. It is why grandchildren can inherit directly from a grandparent who left no will.
Are step-children included in New Jersey intestacy?
Not as descendants of the decedent, and their existence still matters. A step-child is not a descendant of the person who died, so they do not take under 3B:5-4. But whether the surviving spouse has descendants who are not the decedent’s is one of the facts that decides the spouse’s own share under 3B:5-3 — so a step-family on either side changes the arithmetic.
Does intestacy apply to everything the person owned?
No, and this is the distinction that decides most estates. Intestacy governs the probate estate. Assets with a named beneficiary — life insurance, retirement accounts, transfer-on-death and payable-on-death registrations — and assets held with a right of survivorship pass outside the estate entirely, to the named person, regardless of what the intestacy statute says. It is common for the intestate estate to be a small fraction of what the person actually owned.
Can the family agree to divide it differently?
The statute sets what each heir is entitled to receive, and a personal representative who distributes against it is exposed. Adult beneficiaries can, separately, choose what to do with their own shares once received, and there are formal mechanisms such as a disclaimer with their own strict requirements and deadlines. That is a conversation to have with an attorney before anything is paid out, not after.