What happens if someone dies without a will? 7 Answers as of May 18, 2011

The person who is in charge is who is appointed by the court to do a Probate. It sounds like, unless disqualified or she refused to serve, she would be appointed by the court to serve, since she is the beneficiary from what you have stated.

If someone dies without a Will, it's called dying "Intestate" and the estate of that person then goes to parents, siblings, aunt/uncles, cousins. The person who will be in charge is whoever the Surrogates Court appoints as Administrator of the Estate, and that usually is the person who files for the Administration. In this case, the Sister of the deceased will likely be named and receive the majority, if not all, of the estate. If you want to contest that outcome, you must challenge it in Surrogates Court or file yourself for an Administration proceeding to force the Sister to come into court and be bound by its decisions. Good luck.

The assets will pass by the laws of intestacy. Generally any interested party can petition the court for administration. The court will appoint an individual (usually a relative) to handle the estates matters and distribute the assets. If the court cannot find someone who is willing to take on the position, or feels there is some dispute between heirs/parties, it may appoint an independent administrator, usually an attorney.

In cases where there is no will, a probate will need to open and the court will approve a person to be the executor of the estate. Assuming there are no living spouse, children or parents, then any surviving siblings would inherit her estate (laws of intestacy). If she only has one living sister, in all likelihood, the probate court would put her in charge since she is the one who would receive the assets.

By the laws of intestacy (state laws that control what happens when someone dies without a will) in most states, given the relatives you have named, it would the sister as the sole heir.