The latest state of U.S. thinking is expressed in the Uniform Probate Code, approved in 1969 and amended in 1975, 1982, 1987, 1989, 1990–91, and 1997 by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and the American Bar Association. It has been adopted in several states and has significantly influenced law reform in others. Its provisions on intestacy are as follows:

The intestate share of a surviving spouse who was married to the decedent for at least 15 years is:

(1) The entire intestate estate if there is no surviving issue or parent of the decedent;

(2) $200,000 and three-quarters of the remaining estate if there is no surviving issue but the decedent is survived by a parent or parents;

(3) $150,000 and one-half of the remaining estate if there are surviving issue all of whom are also issue of the spouse and the spouse has issue from a prior marriage;

(4) $100,000 and one-half of the remaining estate if there are surviving issue one or more of whom are not issue of the surviving spouse.

In cases where the surviving spouse was married to the decedent for less than 15 years, the spouse receives less than half of the remaining estate, the amount increasing by approximately 3.25 percent for every year of marriage under 15.

(For states with community-property laws, an alternative provision on the intestate rights of the surviving spouse exists.)

The part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse…, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes as follows:

(1) to the issue of the decedent; if they are all of the same degree of kinship to the decedent they take equally, but if of unequal degree, then those of more remote degree take by representation;

(2) if there is no surviving issue, to his parent or parents equally;

(3) if there is no surviving issue or parent, to the brothers and sisters and the issue of each deceased brother or sister by representation; if there is no surviving brother or sister, the issue of brothers and sisters take equally if they are all of the same degree of kinship to the decedent, but if of unequal degree then those of more remote degree take by representation;

(4) If there is no surviving issue, parent or issue of a parent, but the decedent is survived by one or more grandparents or issue of grandparents, half of the estate passes to the paternal grandparents if both survive, or to the surviving paternal grandparent, or to the issue of the paternal grandparents if both are deceased, 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 by representation; and the other half passes to the maternal relatives in the same manner; but if there be no surviving grandparent or issue of grandparent on either the paternal or the maternal side, the entire estate passes to the relatives on the other side in the same manner as the half.

France

The French Civil Code was enacted in 1804, and its provisions of intestate succession have been changed many times. With respect to the surviving spouse, one must take into account the one-half share in the marital acquests that belongs to the surviving spouse unless some other arrangement was agreed upon at the time of the marriage.

The relatives are grouped in four classes, and no member of a more remote class succeeds as long as there is one of a prior class. The four classes are (1) descendants per stirpes, (2) parents, brothers, sisters, and children of brothers and sisters, (3) ascendants other than parents, and (4) collaterals other than group 2, up to and including the 6th grade of consanguinity (i.e., first cousins and grandchildren of great-grandparents).

The surviving spouse, in addition to a one-half share in the marital community fund, has the following rights in intestate succession: (1) a life interest in one-fourth of the estate if the decedent is survived by descendants, (2) a life interest in one-half the estate if the decedent is survived by ascendants in both the maternal and paternal lines or by certain collaterals (brothers, sisters, or their descendants), (3) one-half the estate outright if the decedent is survived by an ascendant in one line only, and (4) the entire estate if the decedent leaves no descendants, ascendants, or any of the above-mentioned collaterals.

With the recognition of Civil Solidarity Partnerships in 1999, the laws governing intestate succession by surviving spouses were extended to cover unmarried, usually cohabiting, partners of decedents.

The R.S.F.S.R.

The civil code of the former Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (1964) provided the following order of intestate succession: (1) children, spouse, and parents of the decedent, in equal shares, a deceased child being represented by his child or children and a deceased grandchild by his child or children, and (2) brothers and sisters of the decedent and his paternal and maternal grandfathers and grandmothers, in equal shares.

Intestate takers in the first group also included those persons who, unable to work, had been dependent upon the decedent for not less than one year prior to his death.

Ordinary household furnishings and articles passed to those intestate takers who had lived with the decedent for not less than one year prior to his death, without regard to their class or statutory shares.