If there are no spouse, issue, or parent, who inherits under NY intestate law?

• A. The decedent's siblings
• B. The issue of the decedent's parents by representation
• C. The paternal grandparents
• D. The state

Answer: (B)

In NY intestate succession, heirs are determined in a fixed order, and when a generation is missing, the next in line is the descendants of the decedent’s parents, allocated by representation (per stirpes). If there is no surviving spouse, no issue, and no surviving parents, the estate passes to the decedent’s siblings and their descendants—i.e., the issue of the decedent’s parents by representation. This means the decedent’s brothers and sisters take, and if any sibling died before the decedent, their children take in the share that would have gone to their parent.

For example, if one sibling survives and another predeceased leaving two children, the surviving sibling would take a portion, and the deceased sibling’s two children would share the other portion. The paternal grandparents would only come into play if there were no surviving siblings or their issue, and the state only if no relatives exist at all.

So the next rightful heirs are the issue of the decedent’s parents by representation.