The Estate Planning Guide Est. 2026

What Happens If You Die Without a Will in Connecticut?

By The Estate Planning Guide Editorial Team Researched against primary sources

Published June 3, 2026 10 min read

Quick answer

If a married person in Connecticut with kids dies without a will, the surviving spouse does NOT automatically take everything. If all the children are the spouse's too, the spouse gets the first $100,000 plus half the balance and the children split the rest; if any child is from another relationship, the spouse and the children each take one-half and the $100,000 drops out completely (Conn. Gen. Stat. §45a-437(a)(3) and (a)(4)). Connecticut is a common-law state, so this applies to the whole estate.

⚠️ Educational information only — not legal, tax, or financial advice.

The figures on this page are general estimates. Laws, fees, thresholds, and prices differ by state and change often, and your own situation may change the result. Before you act, confirm the current numbers and rules for Connecticut with a licensed professional — an attorney, tax advisor, or licensed agent as appropriate. Reading this page does not create a professional relationship.

How intestacy works in Connecticut

When someone dies in Connecticut without a valid will, Conn. Gen. Stat. §45a-437 et seq. decides who inherits. The statute orders potential heirs by their relationship to the deceased — spouse and children first, then parents, then more distant relatives — and specifies exactly what share each one receives.

Connecticut is a common-law (separate property) state, so there is no community-property split; the shares above apply to the whole estate.

What happens when there’s a surviving spouse only (no children, no parents)

Under Conn. Gen. Stat. §45a-437(a)(1) the surviving spouse takes the entire intestate estate absolutely only where the decedent left NO surviving issue AND no surviving parent. If there is no issue but a parent or parents survive, §45a-437(a)(2) gives the spouse the first $100,000 plus three-quarters of the balance instead.

What happens when there’s a surviving spouse and children

This is the most common situation and where Connecticut’s rules get specific:

Under Conn. Gen. Stat. §45a-437(a)(3), if all of the surviving issue are also issue of the surviving spouse, the spouse takes the first $100,000 plus one-half of the balance, and the children take the remainder equally (a deceased child's share passing to that child's issue). Under §45a-437(a)(4), if one or more of the surviving issue are NOT issue of the surviving spouse, the spouse takes one-half of the intestate estate absolutely and the children take the other half — and the $100,000 does not apply at all in that case, so it is not "$100,000 plus half" but a flat half. Either share under §45a-437(a) is taken after payment of any allowance for support out of principal under §45a-320, so it is computed on what remains rather than on the gross estate.

For families where everyone is from the same marriage, the spouse generally gets a meaningful share. For blended families — where one or more children are from a prior relationship — many states change the math substantially. If your situation might fit that, the section above is exactly the rule that applies.

What happens when there’s a surviving spouse and parents (no children)

No surviving issue but a parent or parents survive: under Conn. Gen. Stat. §45a-437(a)(2) the spouse takes the first $100,000 plus three-quarters of the balance, and the parents take the remainder.

What happens when there are children but no spouse

Under Conn. Gen. Stat. §45a-438, after the surviving spouse's portion is set out the residue of the estate goes to the decedent's issue in equal shares PER STIRPES — so a deceased child's share passes down that child's own line rather than being redistributed among the surviving children. §45a-438 also governs inheritance by and through a child born out of wedlock, which is why §45a-437(b) takes the meaning of "issue" from it.

What happens when there’s no spouse and no children

Where there are no children or their representatives, Conn. Gen. Stat. §45a-439(a) sets the order after the spouse's portion: (1) equally to the parent or parents; (2) if no parent, equally to the brothers and sisters and those who legally represent them; (3) if none of those, to the next of kin in equal degree — and no representatives are admitted among collaterals after the representatives of brothers and sisters; (4) if there is no next of kin, equally to the decedent's STEPCHILDREN and those who legally represent them. Connecticut is one of the few states that gives stepchildren a place in the intestate order at all. §45a-439(a)(1) bars a parent who abandoned a minor child and continued that abandonment until the child's death, and such a parent is not treated as a parent for the purposes of (2) to (4) either. Under §45a-439(b)(2), as that subsection reads, next of kin includes the kindred of a deceased father of a child born out of wedlock where the father would have qualified to inherit from or through the child under §45a-438b. Note the two sections do not use the same terms: §45a-439(b)(2) is framed around a father, while §45a-438b — the section it defers to — was rewritten by P.A. 21-15 to speak of a parent and the parent's kindred, with the test being parentage under the Connecticut Parentage Act or adoption. The qualifying test is therefore §45a-438b's.

This is where intestacy starts producing results that often surprise people — distant relatives the deceased may not have been close to can end up inheriting, and a long-time unmarried partner inherits nothing.

A Connecticut-specific quirk

Connecticut departs from the full Uniform Probate Code: even when every child is shared with the surviving spouse, the spouse does NOT inherit the entire estate — the spouse is capped at the first $100,000 plus half the balance, and the children always share the rest (Conn. Gen. Stat. §45a-437(a)(3)). The $100,000 figure is stated as a fixed dollar amount in the statute with no adjustment mechanism. It also disappears entirely where any surviving issue is not the spouse's: §45a-437(a)(4) gives the spouse a flat one-half. Two definitions sit under all of this in §45a-437(b): "issue" takes the meaning given in §45a-438, and a person counts as a parent only if that person qualifies to inherit under §45a-438b. §45a-438b sets that test as parentage: except as §45a-731 provides, a parent and the parent's kindred qualify for inheritance from or through a child if parentage is established under the Connecticut Parentage Act or by adoption. Where parentage rests on §46b-488(a)(3) or §46b-495 to §46b-505, it must be established by a voluntary acknowledgment of parentage under §46b-476 to §46b-487 or by court adjudication. P.A. 21-15, §104 rewrote the section into those terms, replacing an earlier version that turned on the father of a child born out of wedlock and on paternity established before or after his death; P.A. 14-104, §5 was the rewrite before that. So who counts as a parent in §45a-437(b)(2), and who counts as next of kin in §45a-439(b), turns on the Parentage Act rather than on a paternity finding. The section's amendment history runs P.A. 90-146, 92-118, 14-104 and 21-15, none of which moved the dollar figures. Separately, Connecticut places STEPCHILDREN in the intestate order: under §45a-439(a)(4), where there is no next of kin, the estate goes equally to the decedent's stepchildren and those who legally represent them. Most states do not include stepchildren at all.

What intestacy can’t do (and why it usually fails most people)

Even when Connecticut’s intestacy rules produce a result close to what someone would have chosen, the rules can never:

  • Leave anything to an unmarried partner — intestacy doesn’t recognize unmarried partners regardless of relationship length
  • Leave anything to a step-child you didn’t formally adopt
  • Leave anything to a friend, charity, or specific person outside your family
  • Name a guardian for your minor children — a Connecticut judge picks
  • Specify who handles your estate — a court appoints an administrator
  • Identify specific items for specific people
  • Account for blended-family dynamics in nuanced ways
  • Reduce probate costs and time — intestate estates still go through full probate

For most Connecticut families, a basic will — costing $300 to $1,500 with a local attorney, or $50 to $300 with an online service — is meaningfully better than the default rules.

What probate looks like in Connecticut when there’s no will

If someone dies intestate in Connecticut, the estate still goes through probate. A court appoints an administrator (rather than an “executor” — the title is different for intestacy) to:

  1. Inventory the estate’s assets
  2. Notify creditors and pay debts
  3. Identify legal heirs under Connecticut’s intestacy statute
  4. Distribute remaining assets to heirs according to the statute

For details on what probate costs and how long it takes in Connecticut, see:

What displaces the Connecticut intestacy statutes

Each of the following changes some or all of what the Connecticut intestacy statutes would otherwise direct:

  1. A basic will, prepared through an online service or by a local attorney; what each charges is set by the seller and no independent source for it is cited. A will names an executor, names a guardian for any minor children, and directs who takes what, in place of the intestacy shares set out above.
  2. Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance, and POD/TOD bank accounts. These pass outside both the will and intestacy.
  3. A financial power of attorney and a healthcare directive. These operate on incapacity rather than on death, and authorise a named agent in place of a court-appointed guardian.

The reported cost of all three together is under $1,500 for a typical Connecticut estate. Those figures are market estimates and carry no named, dated publisher.

What happens without a will in other states

Intestacy rules differ from state to state — here’s what happens when someone dies without a will elsewhere:

This page explains Connecticut intestacy law in general terms as of 2026. It is not legal advice; intestacy provisions, dollar thresholds, and statute citations can change. Confirm current rules with a licensed Connecticut attorney before relying on this page. Sources: Conn. Gen. Stat. §45a-437 (distribution to spouse), Conn. Gen. Stat. §45a-438 (distribution to children/descendants), Conn. Gen. Stat. §45a-439 (distribution when no children).

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