Under New York intestate succession, if the decedent is survived by a spouse and issue, how is the estate distributed?

• A. The spouse receives the entire estate
• B. The spouse receives $50,000 plus one-half of the residue; the remainder goes to issue by representation
• C. The issue receive everything by representation
• D. One-half to spouse and one-half to issue

Answer: (B)

Under New York intestate succession, when the decedent is survived by a spouse and issue, the surviving spouse receives a fixed share plus a share of the residue, and the remaining portion goes to the decedent’s issue by representation. Specifically, the spouse gets $50,000 plus one-half of the estate’s residue, and the other half goes to the issue by representation (per stirpes).

For example, with a $300,000 estate, the spouse would receive $50,000 plus half of the remaining $250,000, i.e., $125,000, totaling $175,000. The remaining $125,000 would go to the decedent’s issue by representation.

This reflects the rule that the spouse has a protected share, while the issue still inherits the balance. The other options fail because they either give the entire estate to the spouse, or all to the issue, or simply split the estate in half without the $50,000 upfront and without the per-stirpes allocation.