Before you start searching for your uncle's or great-grandmother's name, it's worth knowing one thing: not every relative automatically inherits. If the deceased left no will, statutory inheritance applies according to six inheritance classes — and they're always searched in order, starting with the first.
If even one person inherits within the first class, the second class doesn't apply at all. Only when nobody in a given class inherits does it move on to the next.
They inherit in equal shares. If a child doesn't inherit (e.g. died earlier), their share passes to their own children.
Applies only if nobody from the first class inherits. This also includes people who lived with the deceased in a shared household for at least a year before death and cared for it.
Applies if neither a spouse nor parents inherit. It includes people who lived with the deceased in a shared household for at least a year before death.
If none of the people from the previous classes inherit, the deceased's grandparents inherit in equal shares.
If nobody from the previous classes inherits, the inheritance passes to the great-grandparents of the deceased.
The last class of statutory inheritance — nephews and nieces, as well as the deceased's uncles and aunts.
If no heir is found in any of the six classes, nor through a will, the property passes to the state. That's exactly why it's worth checking even more distant relatives — in many cases, it's the only way the family's property ever gets sorted out at all.
Try your own name, and your parents' or grandparents' too.
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