I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. Robert A. Heinlein often wrote about the necessity of morally responsible behavior in the context of freedom. We Americans relish our freedoms. We want to live how we like and spend our hard-earned money on what we want. And we resist when the government tries to interfere with our lives. However, less than half of all Americans have even the most basic estate planning documents. They voluntarily give up their freedom to decide what will happen to their assets when they die.
The law gives you the freedom to decide how and to whom your assets are distributed when you die by making a will. But if you die without a will, your assets will be distributed according to a statutory formula that doesn’t consider your wishes and unique circumstances.
Below, I summarize the way the assets of those who die without a will in Ohio are distributed:
- If there is no surviving spouse, to the children or their lineal descendants, per stirpes;
- If there is a spouse and one or more children or their lineal descendants surviving, and all of the decedent’s children who survive or have lineal descendants surviving also are children of the surviving spouse, then the whole to the surviving spouse;
- If there is a spouse and one child of the decedent or the child’s lineal descendants surviving and the surviving spouse is not the natural or adoptive parent of the decedent’s child, the first twenty thousand dollars plus one-half of the balance of the estate to the spouse and the remainder to the child or the child’s lineal descendants, per stirpes;
- If there is a spouse and more than one child or their lineal descendants surviving, the first sixty thousand dollars if the spouse is the natural or adoptive parent of one, but not all, of the children, or the first twenty thousand dollars if the spouse is the natural or adoptive parent of none of the children, plus one-third of the balance of the estate to the spouse and the remainder to the children equally, or to the lineal descendants of any deceased child, per stirpes;
- If there are no children or their lineal descendants, then the whole to the surviving spouse;
- If there is no spouse and no children or their lineal descendants, to the parents of the intestate equally, or to the surviving parent;
- If there is no spouse, no children or their lineal descendants, and no parent surviving, to the brothers and sisters, whether of the whole or of the half blood of the intestate, or their lineal descendants, per stirpes;
- If there are no brothers or sisters or their lineal descendants, one-half to the paternal grandparents of the intestate equally, or to the survivor, and one-half to the maternal grandparents of the intestate equally, or to the survivor of them;
- If there is no paternal grandparent or no maternal grandparent, one-half to the lineal descendants of the deceased grandparents, per stirpes; if there are no such lineal descendants, then to the surviving grandparents or their lineal descendants, per stirpes; if there are no surviving grandparents or their lineal descendants, then to the next of kin of the intestate, provided there shall be no representation among the next of kin;
- If there are no next of kin, to stepchildren or their lineal descendants, per stirpes;
- If there are no stepchildren or their lineal descendants, then to the State of Ohio.
Maybe you have a close friend who you would have wanted to share in your estate. A charity or idea that you like better than giving your money to the state. That would not be possible without a will.
If you want the freedom to decide how and to whom your property will be distributed when you die, you need a will.