Editing Intestacy (section)

===United States===
In the [[United States]] intestacy laws vary from state to state.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Probate Process|url=https://www.americanbar.org/groups/real_property_trust_estate/resources/estate_planning/the_probate_process.html|website=American Bar Association|access-date=6 September 2017}}</ref> Each of the separate states uses its own intestacy laws to determine the ownership of residents' intestate property.

Attempts in the United States to make probate and intestate succession uniform from state to state, through efforts such as the [[Uniform Probate Code]], have been met with limited success.

The distribution of the property of an intestate decedent is the responsibility of the ''administrator'' (or ''personal representative'') of the estate: typically the administrator is chosen by the court having jurisdiction over the decedent's property, and is frequently (but not always) a person nominated by a majority of the decedent's heirs.

Federal law controls intestacy of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]].<ref>{{cite web|title=25 U.S. Code § 2206 - Descent and distribution|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/25/2206|website=Legal Information Institute|publisher=Cornell Law School|access-date=6 September 2017}}</ref>

Many states have adopted all or part of the Uniform Probate Code, but often with local variations,<ref>{{cite web|title=UPC Chart (Excerpted from "Record of Passage of Uniform and Model Acts, as of September 30, 2010)|url=http://www.uniformlaws.org/Shared/Docs/Probate%20Code/UPC%20Chart.pdf|website=Uniform Law Commission|access-date=6 September 2017}}</ref> In [[Ohio]], the law of intestate succession has been modified significantly from the common law, and has been essentially codified.<ref>{{cite web|title=Title XXI, Courts - Probate - Juvenile, Chapter 2015, Descent and Distribution|url=http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2105|website=Ohio Revised Code|publisher=State of Ohio|access-date=6 September 2017}}</ref> The state of [[Washington (state)|Washington]] also has codified its intestacy law.<ref>{{cite web|title=RCW 11.04.015|url=http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?Cite=11.04.015|website=Revised Code of Washington|publisher=Washington State Legislature|access-date=6 September 2017}}</ref> [[New York (state)|New York]] has perhaps the most complicated law of descent of distribution.<ref>{{cite web|title=New York Code, Estates, Powers & Trusts, Sec. 4-1.1. Descent and distribution of a decedent's estate|url=https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/EPT/4-1.1|website=The New York Senate|access-date=6 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Eager|first1=Samuel Watkins|title=Descent and distribution : intestate succession in the state of New York|date=1926|publisher=Matthew Bender & Co.|location=Albany, NY|oclc=5514327}}</ref> Maryland's intestacy laws specify not only the distribution, but also the order of the distribution among family members.<ref>{{cite web |title=Maryland Intestacy Law |url=https://www.peoples-law.org/maryland-intestacy-law |website=People's Law |publisher=Maryland State Law Library |access-date=1 March 2019}}</ref> Florida's intestacy statute permits the heirs of a deceased spouse of the decedent to inherit, if the decedent has no other heirs.