If a father dies without a will in California, what is generaly the
disposition to surviving children, and others. There is no wife alive.
One son ( CA resident ), One son in prison in CA, one daughter in
Utah. Also two or three grandchildren and 4 sisters.

Hello.

First of all, I must note that Google Answers provides general
information and is not intended as, and should not be taken as, a
substitute for professional legal advice. If you need professional
legal advice, you should contact a qualified probate attorney in
California.

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The rule on this situtation is covered in California Probate Code
Section 6400 and 6402.

"6400.  Any part of the estate of a decedent not effectively disposed
of by will passes to the decedent's heirs as prescribed in this part.
...

6402.  Except as provided in Section 6402.5, the part of the intestate
estate not passing to the surviving spouse or surviving domestic
partner, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 37, under Section
6401, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse
or domestic partner, passes as follows:
   (a) To the issue of the decedent, the issue taking equally if they
are all of the same degree of kinship to the decedent, but if of
unequal degree those of more remote degree take in the manner provided
in Section 240."
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=prob&group=06001-07000&file=6400-6414

Section 240:

"240.  If  a statute calls for property to be distributed or taken in
the manner provided in this section, the property shall be divided
into as many equal shares as there are living members of the nearest
generation of issue then living and deceased members of that
generation who leave issue then living, each living member of the
nearest generation of issue then living receiving one share and the
share of each deceased member of that generation who leaves issue then
living  being divided in the same manner among his or her then living
issue."
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=prob&group=00001-01000&file=240-241

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What this means is that if someone dies without a will (the legal term
is "intestate"), and has no spouse, then the estate goes to the
person's "issue."

"Issue" means the deceased person's children, unless one or more of
his children is already dead.  If a child had die but had their own
issue (i.e., the grandchildren of the intestate person), then those
issue would get their parent's share.


In short, if a father with no will dies without a wife, but with three
living children, and no deceased children, then the three children
will get the estate in equal shares (i.e., 1/3rd each).

But if the intestate father also had, say, one child who had died but
had left issue (i.e., the grandchildren of the intestate father), then
the estate would be divided in 1/4th shares with the three living
children each getting a 1/4th share and the issue of the deceased
child splitting their parent's 1/4th share.


If the estate contains real property or valued at more than $100,000,
then the estate will be subject to what's called "probate," which is a
court procedure that will supervise the settlement and division of the
estate.  Nolo Press publishes a book called "How to Probate an Estate
in California," which covers all this in great detail. See Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1413300235/


Finally, I know that you mentioned that one child is in prison.  The
California Penal Code allows inmates to inherit property, so that
should have no effect on the situation.

See:
"2601.  Subject only to the provisions of that section, each person
described in Section 2600 shall have the following civil rights:
   (a) Except as provided in Section 2225 of the Civil Code, to
inherit, own, sell, or convey real or personal property..."
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=02001-03000&file=2600-2601

The relevant exception in Section 2225 of the Civil Code is that a
felon convicted of causing someone's death can't inherit from that
person.  See: Section 2225 of the Civil Code
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=civ&group=02001-03000&file=2223-2225

In other words, if the son is in prison for murdering the father, then
he will not inherit.

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search strategy:
find california code, probate, intestate

I hope this helps.

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 23 Oct 2004 12:16 PDT

Sorry for that typo above:

"The rule on this situation..."

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 23 Oct 2004 12:21 PDT

Just one other note...

I wrote:

"Finally, I know that you mentioned that one child is in prison.  The
California Penal Code allows inmates to inherit property, so that
should have no effect on the situation."

By "that," I meant the one son's imprisonment.  In other words, the
fact that the son is in prison will not affect his share or the shares
of his siblings.

10-23-2004

Check at the county courthouse (for the city where the death occurred)
to see if anyone has filed to become administrator of the estate.  If
no one has done this, you can file to be administrator yourself or
hire a probate attorney to do it.

4KEITH (I'm NOT a GOOGLE Researcher)

Also NOT a Google researcher (or attorney):

And get the Nolo book, because one way to "test" an attorney to see if
you can work with them is to let them tell you how much probate costs.
(Unless you're under the $100,000, or any of his estate is in
insurance products like annuities which don't go through probate.)
It's completely negotiable, though some will say the state fixes a
certain amount, which is only fixed as a maximum.