When someone in Boca Raton dies without a will, Florida law takes over completely. Lawyers call it dying “intestate,” and it means the state’s statutes, not your wishes, decide who inherits and who manages your estate. Most families assume the outcome will be fair and obvious. It often is neither. Here is what actually happens, framed around the mistakes that lead people there.
Florida’s intestacy rules decide everything
Without a will, Chapter 732 of the Florida Probate Code distributes your assets according to a fixed formula. A surviving spouse takes the whole estate only if all your descendants are also the spouse’s descendants. If you have children from a prior relationship, your spouse and those children split the estate. No children means the estate may go to your spouse, then parents, then siblings, in a set order. You have no say.
The court chooses who is in charge
With no will, there is no personal representative named. The court appoints one based on statutory priority, usually the surviving spouse or a majority of heirs. In families that do not get along, this step alone can spark conflict. A Boca Raton estate can stall while relatives fight over who administers it.
Mistake 1: Assuming probate is avoided
Dying without a will does not avoid probate. It often makes probate harder. Florida offers two main paths: summary administration, available for smaller estates or when the death occurred more than two years ago, and formal administration for larger or more complex estates. Without a will guiding the process, formal administration is more likely, which means more time and expense.
Mistake 2: Forgetting homestead complications
Florida’s constitutional homestead protection still applies when you die intestate, and it can produce results no one expected. A surviving spouse may receive a life estate in the Boca Raton home with the remainder to the children, or the spouse may elect a half interest instead. These outcomes are rigid and frequently lead to disputes about selling or keeping the property.
Mistake 3: Leaving minor children without a named guardian
If you die without a will and leave minor children, you have nominated no one to raise them. The court selects a guardian from among interested parties. The person a judge chooses may not be the person you would have. This is one of the most painful consequences of intestacy.
Mistake 4: Assuming unmarried partners are protected
Florida intestacy law recognizes legal spouses and blood or adopted relatives. An unmarried partner, no matter how long the relationship, inherits nothing under intestacy. In Boca Raton’s community of longtime couples who never formalized their relationship, this comes as a devastating surprise. Only a will, trust, or beneficiary designation protects a partner.
What does still pass outside intestacy
Some assets bypass the intestacy rules entirely. Life insurance and retirement accounts with named beneficiaries, payable-on-death accounts, jointly titled property with survivorship, and Lady Bird deeds all transfer directly. But anything in your sole name with no beneficiary falls into the intestate estate and the state’s formula.
The takeaway
Dying without a will hands your most personal decisions to a statute and a Palm Beach County judge. The fix is straightforward: a properly drafted will, and often a trust, lets you control the outcome. Speak with a licensed Florida estate planning attorney serving Boca Raton to put your own plan in place before the state’s plan applies by default.
For more on our Florida practice, see our overview of Florida estate planning. Morgan Legal Group's affiliated New York office also handles Article 81 guardianship in New York.
