- Married with no children
- 1) The spouse or domestic partner receives the entire estate if there is no surviving child or parent of the decedent.
2) The spouse or domestic partner receives the first 25% of the intestate estate, but not less than $50,000 nor more than $200,000, plus three fourths of any balance of the intestate estate, if no descendant of the deceased survives the decedent, but a parent of the decedent survives him or her. - Married with child or children
- 1) The spouse receives the entire estate if all the decedent’s surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse or domestic partner and there is no other descendant of the surviving spouse or domestic partner who survives the decedent.
2) The spouse or domestic partner receives the first 25% of the intestate estate, but not less than $50,000 nor more than $200,000, plus one half of the balance of the intestate estate if all of the decedent’s surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse or domestic partner and the surviving spouse or domestic partner has one or more surviving descendants who are not descendants of the decedent. The same applies if one or more of the decedent’s surviving descendants is not a descendant of the surviving spouse or domestic partner. - No spouse survives (or the decedent was single, widow or widower) but there are other relatives
- The order in which the estate passes is:1) decedent’s descendants
2) decedent’s parents
3) descendants of the decedent’s parents
4) grandparents or their descendants
5) decedent’s step-children or their descendants - No surviving relatives
- The estate goes to the state of New Jersey.
- State link
- http://tinyurl.com/d6no6d
- Special notes
- The same rights apply to a domestic partner as to a spouse.
What is the definition of domestic partner? Would a man and woman living together without marriage be considered as a domestic partner?
While there isn’t a set definition of what constitutes a domestic partnership -– it can vary on a state-by-state, or even city-by-city basis — the general rule of thumb is that couples need to be in a committed relationship, live together, be financially interdependent or have some combination of these factors. If you are asking because you want to find out what specific rights you have in your relationship, you should check the statutes for your state.