Father dies two days after my Mother. Who inherits what from who?

Full question:

My friend died of heart attack two days after his wife passed away in a car accident in North Dakota. They do not have any kids and both of them do not have parents now. The only person living in surviving them is my friend’s wife’s maternal grandmother who stays in the same town. My friend has left behind a huge property, and no will. Who would get the property? Are grandparents eligible to get intestate share?

• Category: Wills and Estates
• Subcategory: Intestacy
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: North Dakota

Answer:

When an individual dies intestate and do not have any surviving family, the property will “escheat” into the state’s treasuries. But, this does not happen often since the laws are aimed to provide the property to someone who is at least distantly related to the deceased.
According to N.D. Cent. Code Ann. § 30.1-04-03 (West), the property can go to spouse, children, parents, grandparents or even the descendants of the spouse who died before the decedent. The section reads:

“Any part of the intestate estate not passing to a decedent's surviving spouse under section 30.1-04-02, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes in the following order to the individuals who survive the decedent:
1. To the decedent's descendants by representation.
2. If there is no surviving descendant, to the decedent's parents equally if both survive, or to the surviving parent.
3. If there is no surviving descendant or parent, to the descendants of the decedent's parents or either of them by representation.
4. If there is no surviving descendant, parent, or descendant of a parent, but the decedent is survived on both the paternal and maternal sides by one or more grandparents or descendants of grandparents:

a. Half to the decedent's paternal grandparents equally if both survive, or to the surviving paternal grandparent, or to the descendants of the decedent's paternal grandparents or either of them if both are deceased, the descendants taking by representation; and
b. Half to the decedent's maternal grandparents equally if both survive, or to the surviving maternal grandparent, or to the descendants of the decedent's maternal grandparents or either of them if both are deceased, the descendants taking by representation.

5. If there is no surviving descendant, parent, or descendant of a parent, but the decedent is survived by one or more grandparents or descendants of grandparents on the paternal but not the maternal side, or on the maternal but not the paternal side, to the decedent's relatives on the side with one or more surviving members in the manner as described in subsection 4.
6. If there is no surviving spouse, descendant, parent, descendant of a parent, grandparent, or descendant of a grandparent, but the intestate decedent has one deceased spouse who has one or more descendants who survive the decedent, to those descendants by representation or has more than one deceased spouse who has one or more descendants who survive the decedent, the estate is divided into as many equal shares as there are deceased spouses, each share passing to those descendants by representation.”