{"id":2102,"date":"2026-05-01T11:50:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T15:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/estateandtaxplanningblog\/?p=2102"},"modified":"2026-05-01T11:50:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T15:50:54","slug":"what-happens-when-someone-dies-without-a-valid-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/estateandtaxplanningblog\/2026\/05\/01\/what-happens-when-someone-dies-without-a-valid-will\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happens When Someone Dies Without a Valid Will"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you considered what will happen if you die without a will? What happens to your estate?<\/p>\n

A will is an important legal document that details who will receive assets after someone dies and also names a personal representative to administer the estate.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t have a will, the intestacy laws will govern whatever passes through your estate,\u201d says Katherine Dorval<\/a>, a trust-and-estate attorney with Bowditch & Dewey in Worcester, Mass., referring to state laws that determine what happens when someone dies without a valid will. \u201cYou lose the opportunity to not only choose who is going to be in charge of your estate, but also how the assets will pass.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Continue reading \u201cThe Five Documents You Need to Have in Your Estate Plan<\/a>\u201d on\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0Wall Street Journal\u00a0<\/em>website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you considered what will happen if you die without a will? What happens to your estate? A will is an important legal document that details who will receive assets after someone dies and also names a personal representative to administer the estate. “If you don’t have a will, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[57,262],"class_list":["post-2102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wills","tag-estate-planning","tag-will"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Happens When Someone Dies Without a Valid Will - Bowditch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you considered what will happen if you die without a will? 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