The Cost of Dying Without a Will in Every State

Disclaimer: General educational research only — not legal, tax or financial advice. Figures are survey-based estimates with the limits explained in the methodology. Verify with official sources and a qualified professional before making decisions.

Estate Planning Data & Research → The Cost of Dying Without a Will in Every State

If you die without a will, your state already has a plan for your things. It’s written into a law called “intestate succession.” That law decides who inherits. Other parts of the probate code decide who gets paid to settle the estate, whether that person has to buy a bond, and how long creditors have to come forward.

We read those laws for all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and put them in one table. Every rule links to a statute section. Wherever we couldn’t confirm a rule from an official source, we say so instead of guessing.

Don’t want your state’s default rules deciding for you? Find your state’s will and trust rules, or see whether you need a will, a living trust or both.

Key findings

• In 29 of 51 jurisdictions, a surviving spouse does not automatically get everything, even in a first-marriage family where all the children belong to both spouses. In those states the spouse shares with the children. That can be a fixed dollar amount plus half (New York: $50,000 + 1/2; Pennsylvania: $30,000 + 1/2; Missouri: $20,000 + 1/2), a flat half (Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, South Carolina, Wyoming), or something more unusual. In Arkansas the children inherit and the spouse gets dower rights. In Louisiana the children own the deceased spouse’s half of community property and the spouse gets a lifetime “usufruct,” meaning the right to use it.
• 21 states put a percentage for executor pay into the statute. It’s either a set schedule, a legal maximum, or (in Florida) a “presumed reasonable” amount. The other 30 jurisdictions generally say “reasonable compensation,” or we couldn’t verify a rule. Take an estate the size of each state’s median home and apply the statute. The legally set fee runs from about $5,700 in Oklahoma to $36,380 in California. California’s figure comes from two separate statutory fees, one for the executor and the same amount again for the estate’s lawyer, on a $759,500 median home. (Illustrative only; see the method.)
• Several rules changed recently, and older guides may be wrong. Kentucky rewrote its rules effective July 15, 2026. A surviving spouse now inherits the entire estate when all of the children are also the spouse’s (KRS 391.010), and a bond is no longer required unless the court orders one (KRS 395.130). Louisiana raised its small-succession limit from $125,000 to $200,000 on Aug. 1, 2026. South Carolina raised its small-estate affidavit limit from $25,000 to $45,000 in May 2025.

What “dying without a will” actually costs

There’s no single price tag. The costs show up in four places:

1. Who inherits. If the law sends half of your estate to your children, your spouse may have to work with them, or with a court-appointed guardian if they’re minors, before selling the house.
2. Executor (personal representative) pay. Some states set the fee by formula. Most say “reasonable,” which in practice means hourly or negotiated. Lawyer fees are separate, except in states like California, Wyoming, and Iowa, where the statute also sets or caps the attorney’s fee.
3. Bonds. A bond is basically an insurance policy that protects heirs and creditors if the administrator mishandles money. When there’s no will, nobody has waived the bond in advance. In many states the heirs can still sign a waiver.
4. Time. Most estates can’t close until the creditor claim window ends. That window ranges from 2 months (Nebraska, Oklahoma, after notice is published) to 8 months (Delaware, from death; South Carolina, after publication) and 1 year (Massachusetts, from death; Pennsylvania, after letters are advertised).

The illustrative fee: how big is it?

Most families’ biggest asset is the house. So for the states whose statutes set a percentage, we asked one simple question. If an estate were worth exactly the state’s median home value, and that home went through probate and was sold, what fee would the statute produce?

These are illustrations, not quotes. They assume the home is the only asset, it’s sold through probate, it’s mortgage-free, and the work is “ordinary.” Real estates differ:

• In Florida, a family’s homestead usually passes outside the estate, so the fee base is often much smaller.
• In Ohio, an unsold home draws only 1%.
• In Missouri, the schedule is a minimum, and real estate counts only if it’s sold.
• Rows marked “maximum” (Alabama, Iowa, Maryland, South Carolina, Texas) are legal ceilings, not what courts always award.
• Alabama, New York and New Jersey figures come from secondary copies of the statute (marked “secondary source”).

Arkansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina also cap executor pay by statute. We didn’t compute a home-based figure for them because their caps are tied to personal property or to “receipts and expenditures,” and a house doesn’t fit neatly into either.

Do you need a bond when there’s no will?

• Generally no bond unless a court orders one or an exception applies (13): Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky (as of July 15, 2026), Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana (only if someone demands one), Nevada (up to the court), North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah.
• Generally required unless the heirs waive it or the court excuses it (21): Alaska, Arizona, California, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts (sureties), Missouri, New Hampshire (personal bond only for estates of $25,000 or less), North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Washington (depends on the case), West Virginia, Wyoming.
• Not yet verified (17); check your state statute: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin.

Full state table

What this means for your family

• If you’re married with kids, check your state’s row first. In about half the states, your spouse would end up co-owning the house with your children. If the kids are minors, selling or refinancing can take a court-supervised guardianship. A simple will fixes that. See how much a will costs and your state’s will page, for example Ohio’s.
• A will can waive the bond and name the person you trust. Without one, the court picks an administrator from a priority list, and in many states that person must buy a bond unless every heir signs a waiver.
• The fee formula only touches what goes through probate. Joint ownership, beneficiary designations, transfer-on-death deeds, and living trusts can keep assets out of the fee base. Start with avoiding probate, trust vs. will, and living trust costs.
• Small estates may skip most of this. If the estate is under your state’s limit, an affidavit or short-form process may be enough. See our small estate affidavit guide and small-estate limits vs. home values. Many limits exclude real estate, so a family with a house often doesn’t qualify.
• Already handling a parent’s estate? Our probate process explainer, settling an estate checklist, and probate costs by state walk through the steps.

Methodology

Statutes. On Oct. 1, 2026 we downloaded each state’s intestacy, executor-compensation, bond, creditor-claim, and small-estate sections from the official legislative or code website wherever possible, and saved a copy with a timestamp and SHA-256 hash. The rules in the table are summaries of that text, not legal advice. Each cell has a confidence code in the CSV:

• A: current official text, downloaded and read.
• B: an official source we read another way. That includes Hawaii’s official site (read through a fetch tool after a direct download was blocked), Louisiana’s official bill digest, Texas and New York text from public.law copies of the official code, and older official-code releases for Georgia (Nov. 2022), Arkansas (Nov. 2020), Mississippi (July 2020), and Tennessee (May 2021). Older releases can miss later amendments.
• C: secondary copies only (Justia, FindLaw, onecle). Shown in the table as “secondary source.”
• U: not verified. Shown in the table as “Not yet verified” or “Unverified.”

“Spouse’s share” describes one common family: married, all of the children belong to both spouses, and the surviving spouse has no other children. Blended families, no-children families, and community-property splits get different shares. Read your state’s statute.

Home values. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, table B25077 (median value of owner-occupied housing units), pulled from api.census.gov/data/2024/acs/acs1. U.S. median: $360,600. ACS 2025 estimates were not yet in the Census API when we pulled the data.

Illustrative fee. For each state whose statute sets a percentage schedule, cap, or presumed-reasonable amount, we applied it to an estate equal to the median home value. We assumed:

• The home is the only asset, sold through probate, and mortgage-free.
• Only ordinary services, with no extraordinary fees.

Where the statute sets the attorney fee too (California, Wyoming) or caps it at the same schedule (Iowa), or sets a presumed-reasonable attorney schedule (Florida), we added it.

Statute source pages (all fetched Oct. 1, 2026):

Related research: the intestacy gap shows how many unmarried couples and stepchildren these default rules leave out in each state.

Related research: who will be your executor counts people 65 and older with no spouse, state by state.

FAQ

If I die without a will, does my spouse get everything?

Only in some states, and usually only when all of your children are also your spouse’s children. In our table, that’s true in 22 jurisdictions for the typical first-marriage family. In the others, your spouse shares with your children, sometimes after taking a fixed dollar amount first.

Are executor fees really set by law?

In 21 states, the statute sets a schedule, a cap, or a presumed-reasonable amount. Elsewhere the law says “reasonable compensation,” and the court decides if anyone objects. Family members serving as administrator can also turn the fee down.

How long does probate take without a will?

At a minimum, until the creditor claim window closes. That’s 2 to 8 months in most states, and up to a year in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Selling a house, finding heirs, or a dispute adds time.

Can my family skip probate if the estate is small?

Often, yes. Every state has some shortcut, but the limits vary widely, from $15,000 in Rhode Island (not counting tangible personal property) to $400,000 in Wyoming. Many limits leave out real estate.

Is this legal advice?

No. It’s a plain-English summary of state statutes as we read them on Oct. 1, 2026. Rules marked “secondary source” or “not yet verified” need checking, and court rules or local practice can change the picture. Talk to a probate attorney in your state.

Cite this data

You’re welcome to use the table or a chart with a link back to this page. The full CSV, including statute citations and confidence codes, is in the Downloads section above.

Published October 1, 2026. Data vintage: Statutes read Oct 1, 2026; home values from ACS 2024 1-year (B25077), released Sept 2025. Editorial standards.