If there is issue but no surviving spouse in NY intestate succession, who inherits the estate?

• A. The surviving spouse
• B. The issue by representation
• C. The parents
• D. The grandparents

Answer: (B)

In New York, when someone dies intestate and there is at least one descendant but no surviving spouse, the estate goes to the decedent’s issue by representation. That means the heirs are the decedent’s descendants, and the distribution follows a per stirpes (by representation) pattern. If a child dies before the decedent, that child’s share is passed to that child’s own descendants, rather than to the surviving siblings.

Illustrating this: if there are two children and one predeceases leaving two grandchildren, the surviving child would take half of the estate, and the deceased child’s half would be split between the two grandchildren. If there are more generations, the same rule applies down the line. Only if there are no descendants at all would other relatives (like parents, then siblings, then grandparents) inherit.