Who Inherits If You Die Without a Will in Rhode Island

Real estate passes first to the children (or their descendants), then to the parents, then to brothers and sisters and their descendants. A surviving spouse receives a life estate in the real estate, and the probate court may also, on a petition filed within six months after notice of the administrator's appointment is first published, award the spouse up to $150,000 of real estate outright (if not needed to pay debts). Of the personal property left after debts, the spouse receives one-half if there are children or other descendants; if there are none, the spouse receives $50,000 plus one-half of the rest.

A surviving spouse may reject what the will leaves them and instead take an elective share measured by the intestate share: a life estate (and the allowance) in real estate titled in the decedent's name alone, plus the intestate share of the probate personal property. The spouse must file a written waiver and petition in the probate court within six months after the first publication of the executor's qualification (extendable on petition, but not beyond nine months after death), and record it in any other city or town where the real estate is located. Separately, a surviving spouse has a life estate in real estate the decedent owned at death, unless it was conveyed by a deed recorded before death.

If an estate is made up entirely of personal property worth no more than $15,000 (not counting the decedent's tangible personal property), a relative (spouse, child, grandchild, parent, sibling, niece, nephew, aunt or uncle) or other interested person who is an adult Rhode Island resident may file a verified statement with the probate court once 30 days have passed since death and no petition for letters has been filed. The filer becomes a voluntary administrator who collects the assets, pays funeral and other debts in the order set by law, and distributes the rest. The filing fee is $30 and the certificate of appointment is $5. Real estate is not covered.