What happens to your stuff if you die with no will and no heirs?

Quote: Wizard

I continue to maintain it is a myth that the state/lottery will pocket all unpaid payments if the winner dies.

In the spirit of awful reporting on the Powerball, a so-called expert on the Today show today perpetuated this myth.
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The myth is probably based on someone who won a d didn't have a will or beneficiary or next of kin.

Quote: Asswhoopermcdaddy

The myth is probably based on someone who won a d didn't have a will or beneficiary or next of kin.

In that case, I think the money would have gone to the closest relatives, as determined by the courts.

Quote: Wizard

In that case, I think the money would have gone to the closest relatives, as determined by the courts.

If there were none?

Quote: Asswhoopermcdaddy

If there were none?

Then, yes, I think the state would get whatever there was.

Quote: Wizard

Then, yes, I think the state would get whatever there was.

But that's just poor financial planning, not rules related to remaining jackpots upon death.

When there is a winner, the state buys an "annuity certain" from a financial institution that describes the exact timing and amounts of payments. The state pays for it, and they're out of the picture. Period. Your contract is now with the financial institution. There is no mechanism for the state to claw back the winnings.

Quote: rsactuary

But that's just poor financial planning, not rules related to remaining jackpots upon death.

When there is a winner, the state buys an "annuity certain" from a financial institution that describes the exact timing and amounts of payments. The state pays for it, and they're out of the picture. Period. Your contract is now with the financial institution. There is no mechanism for the state to claw back the winnings.

I've read the exact opposite. Specifically, it said that even though the government uses a third party, it is the government that maintains full responsibility for all of the payments.

If I am reading California law correctly (Probate Code, section 6402), then, should there be no spouse and no will, the money goes to, in order:
1. Children
2. Parents
3. Grandparents
4. Children of a previous spouse who is dead
5. "Next of Kin" (which I can't seem to be legally defined anywhere)
6. Parents of a previous spouse who is dead
7. The State

At any level, a dead person that has descendants receives a share as if that person was alive, divided equally among their direct descendants (e.g. if someone has children A and B, and B is dead but has children C and D, then A gets half, and C and D each get 25%).

Yeah, if no rightful heirs can be found, it goes to the state.

Note that it's the state, not the lottery commission - albeit a different branch of the same government.

It's probably the same as what happens to unclaimed winners.

Quote: SOOPOO

...it is the government that maintains full responsibility for all of the payments.

I knew a guy who worked for the NJ Lottery. His entire job was to track down annuity recipients who had moved without providing the state a forwarding address.

I suspect that if 'the annuity provider' couldn't locate, after a 'good faith' effort, anyone to deliver the proceeds to;
Well, then the topic would just vanish, 'poof', until or unless someone(s) re-activated the discussion, in which case the 'annuity provider' would once again start a 'good faith' effort to properly distribute the funds. Ancillary to that statement, should such a case ever rear it's ugly head, someone(s) would be accused of 'bad stuff' and there would be a lengthy investigation, somebody(s) might actually be convicted. The $$ might, or might not be, recovered. Do we need to separate the possibilities based on whether or not Clintons, or Bushs, or Kennedys , or insert names of other powerful families, were involved? It's not a math problem, it's a social problem..;-)

On the other hand;
If you are just looking at the 'recent Threads' link, this one appears to say,
What happens to your stuff?
That is an unfortunate question,
No doubt if weird answers come piling in, the answers will be spun off into a different thread, maybe into a different topic, different Forum.
Maybe..

Quote: ThatDonGuy

If I am reading California law correctly ection 6402), then, should there be no spouse and no will, the money goes to, in order:
1. Children
2. Parents
3. Grandparents
4. Children of a previous spouse who is dead
5. "Next of Kin" (which I can't seem to be legally defined anywhere)
6. Parents of a previous spouse who is dead
7. The State

At any level, a dead person that has descendants receives a share as if that person was alive, divided equally among their direct descendants (e.g. if someone has children A and B, and B is dead but has children C and D, then A gets half, and C and D each get 25%).

I imagine the next of kin would prob mean like siblings,
nieces/nephews, cousins, and aunt/uncles.