- Married with no children
- The surviving spouse gets the entire estate if:
1) No descendant or parent of the decedent survives the decedent.
2) All of the decedent’s surviving descendants are also descendants of the spouse and there is no other descendant of the spouse who survives the decedent.NOTE: The share of a decedent’s surviving spouse is the first $200,000 plus 3/4 of any balance of the estate if no descendant of the decedent survives the decedent but a parent of the decedent survives the decedent. - Married with child or children
- The share of the surviving spouse is
1) the first $150,000 plus one half of any balance of the estate if all of the decedent’s surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse and the spouse has one or more surviving descendants who are not descendants of the decedent.
2) The share of the decedent’s spouse is the first $100,000 plus one half of any balance of the estates if one or more of the decedent’s surviving descendants are not descendants of the surviving spouse. - Order of estate distribution if spouse survives
- Any part of the estate not passing to the decedent’s surviving spouse passes in the following order:
1) Children
2) Parents
3) Parent’s descendants
4) Grandparents or descendants of grandparents
5) The person with the closest degree of kinship with the decedent. - No spouse survives but there are other relatives
- 1) Children
2) Parents
3) Parent’s descendants
4) Grandparents or descendants of grandparents
5) The person with the closest degree of kinship with the decedent. - Single person/ widow or widower
- 1) Children
2) Parents
3) Parent’s descendants
4) Grandparents or descendants of grandparents
5) The person with the closest degree of kinship with the decedent. - No surviving relatives
- The estate passes to the state of Montana.
- State link
- http://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca_toc/72_11_1.htm
- Special notes
- 1) Any individual who fails to survive the decedent by 120 hours is considered to have predeceased the decedent for purposes of inheritance.
2) Relative of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood.
3) An individual who is related to the decedent through two lines of relationship is entitled to only a single share based on the relationship that would entitle the individual to the larger share.
