Affidavit of Heirship in North Dakota

No statute provides a stand-alone affidavit of heirship for real estate. Heirs are determined in a court proceeding: a petition for adjudication of intestacy can ask the district court for a judicial finding that the decedent left no will and an order determining the heirs, with or without appointing an administrator. Real estate is then usually transferred by a personal representative's deed of distribution. The small estate affidavit covers personal property only.

Surviving spouse takes the entire estate if no descendant or parent of the decedent survives, or if all of the decedent's descendants are also the spouse's descendants and the spouse has no other descendants. If no descendant but a parent survives: spouse takes the first $300,000 plus three-fourths of the rest. If all the decedent's descendants are also the spouse's but the spouse has other descendants: spouse takes the first $225,000 plus one-half of the rest. If any of the decedent's descendants are not the spouse's: spouse takes the first $150,000 plus one-half of the rest. Whatever does not pass to the spouse (or everything, if there is no spouse) goes to descendants by representation; if none, to parents equally or the surviving parent; if none, to the parents' descendants (brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews) by representation; then to grandparents and their descendants, half to each side.