Lesson # 238 (part two) • Laws of Wills and Estates
(Intestacy) We now come to the order of inheritance when there is no will. A few rules: (1) The halacha assumes that every Jew has relatives
surviving him. That is, except for a proselyte who dies without leaving
surviving children or the descendant of his children. They are his heirs
only if the children were conceived after his conversion into Judaism. We shall deal with a typical married couple, Jacob and Rachel. They have three sons, Reuven, Shimon, and Levi and three daughters, Dina, Yael, and Devora. Assume that Dina is the first born. 1. Jacob dies first. The widow does not get any inheritance, since a wife never, never, never inherits a husband. (This is without a will). The estate will be divided equally among Reuven, Shimon and Levi. 2. Rachel dies first. Jacob inherits her entire estate. 3. Jacob dies and Reuven, Shimon and Levi died before Jacob died. The sons of Jacob left children, Seth the son of Reuven, Ralph, the son of Shimon, and Harriet, the daughter of Levi. Seth, Ralph and Harriet divide the estate (each being the heir of a son). 4. When Jacob died, he had no sons or offspring of his three sons surviving him. His daughters Dina, Yael, and Devora will inherit the estate of Jacob. 5. Jacob dies leaving no sons or descendants from sons; he leaves no daughters surviving him. But his daughters Dina, Yael, and Devora each left a child, Amnon, Shirley, and Chaim respectively. Amnon, Shirley, and Chaim will inherit the entire estate of Jacob, each being the heir of their mothers (who are the heirs of Jacob, as in #4). 6. [Ed. clarification, based on #5] If Dina and/or Yael and/or Devora had more than one child, then sons would inherit their mother's share in Jacob's estate equally, and daughters would inherit only if their mother had no sons. Example... Dina has two sons and a daughter, Yael has one daughter, Devora has five sons. Dina's two sons share Dina's third of Jacob's estate; their sister does not inherit. Yael's daughter gets Yael's full third. And Devora's five sons share Devora's third of Jacob's estate. 7. Jacob dies leaving no descendants, neither sons, nor
daughters nor offspring of sons or daughters. Isaac the father of Jacob
inherits Jacob’s estate. 9. Jacob dies leaving no descendants and his father and his brothers Oded, Shmuel, and David are all dead. The brothers leave sons Peretz, Bernard, and Hillel respectively, who survive Jacob. Peretz, Bernard, and Hillel inherit the entire estate although they also have sisters. Again, if any of the brothers had daughters only, they would inherit just as their male cousins would. 11. Jacob dies leaving no descendants and his father and brothers are all dead as are Preretz, Bernard, and Hillel leaving no descendants. Oded, Shmuel and David did leave daughters surviving Jacob - Sally, Sheila, and Adele, respectively. Sally, Sheila and Adele inherit the entire estate of Jacob 12. Jacob dies leaving no descendants nor father nor brothers or any descendants from the brothers surviving Jacob. Jacob did have sisters, Jane, Sandra and Renee, who are the daughters of Isaac, irrespective of whether these sisters have the same mother as the decedent, that is whether half sisters or full sisters. As it were, the sisters do not inherit directly from Jacob, but take the share that their father Isaac would have inherited from Jacob. There are of course so many other combinations. In Volume 8 of A Restatement of Rabbinic Civil Law, I give 28 examples on pages 122 to 125. I would now like to discuss the heirs of a woman, Sarah, who died. Either she was married at the time of her death or was a widow (or divorcee) at the time of her death. If Sarah and her husband were divorced, for the purposes of this section it is the same as if she was a widow: A husband is the heir of his wife, and if he is not alive, then her estate is inherited by her sons and their descendants. If she left no sons or descendants of sons surviving her, her estate is inherited by her daughters and their descendants if her daughters predeceased her. If she left no daughters or descendants of daughters, her estate is inherited by her father. If she is not survived by her father, then her father's sons inherit her. If there are no sons of her father or their descendants surviving Sarah, then her father's daughters are Sarah's heirs, and if she had no such sisters or sister's descendants surviving her, the estate goes to her father's father, her grandfather. If he did not survive her, the estate goes to the grandfather's sons and descendants; or then to the grandfather's daughters and their descendants. A son who predeceased his mother is not her heir so as to transmit his inheritance to his brothers by his father only. Reuven, the sole son of Sarah died and then his mother, Sarah, a widow died. Reuven's sons inherit Sarah, since Sarah does not have a husband surviving her. If Reuven left no descendants and his next of kin is his brother, Levi, from the same father but not from Sarah, Levi does not inherit Sarah. However, if Reuven had survived Sarah and inherited her, then his heirs are the same as listed above; if his brother Levi is his heir, then Levi will inherit that which Reuven inherited from Sarah, although Levi is not related to Sarah. The subject matter of this lesson is more fully discussed in volume VIII chapters 273 of A Restatement of Rabbinic Civil Law by E. Quint. Copies of all volumes can be purchased via email: orders@gefenpublishing.com and via website: www.israelbooks.com and at local Judaica bookstores. Questions to quint@inter.net.il [The Parshat
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