Intestate Succession Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. I-10

INTESTATE SUCCESSION ACT

Chapter I‑10

Table of Contents

                1       Definitions

                2       Spouse or adult interdependent partner and no issue

                3       Spouse’s or adult interdependent partner’s share

             3.1       Spouse and adult interdependent partner

             3.2       Share limited

                4       Shares of issue

                5       Neither spouse nor issue

                6       No spouse, issue or parent

                7       Nephews and nieces

                8       Distribution among next of kin

                9       Degrees of kindred

              10       Posthumous births

              11       Advances to children

              12       Estate undisposed of by will

              13       Desertion and adultery

              14       Transitional

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, enacts as follows:

Definitions

1   In this Act,

                                 (a)    “estate” includes both real and personal property;

                                 (b)    “issue” includes all lineal descendants, whether born within or outside marriage, of the ancestor;

                                 (c)    “net value” means the value of the estate wherever situated, both within and outside Alberta, after payment of the charges on it and the debts, funeral expenses, expenses of administration, estate tax and succession duty.

RSA 2000 cI‑10 s1;2002 cA‑4.5 s47;2002 c16 s2

Spouse or adult interdependent partner and no issue

2   If an intestate dies leaving a surviving spouse but no issue or leaving a surviving adult interdependent partner but no issue, the intestate’s estate goes to the spouse or adult interdependent partner, as the case may be.

RSA 2000 cI‑10 s2;2002 cA‑4.5 s47

Spouse’s or adult interdependent partner’s share

3(1)  When an intestate dies leaving a surviving spouse and issue or leaving a surviving adult interdependent partner and issue,

                                 (a)    if the net value of the intestate’s estate does not exceed $40 000, the estate goes to the spouse or adult interdependent partner, as the case may be, and

                                 (b)    if the net value of the intestate’s estate exceeds $40 000, the spouse or adult interdependent partner, as the case may be, is entitled to $40 000 and has a charge on the estate for that amount with interest from the date of death.

(2)  After payment to the surviving spouse or adult interdependent partner under subsection (1),

                                 (a)    if the intestate dies leaving a surviving spouse and one child or leaving a surviving adult interdependent partner and one child, 1/2 of the residue of the intestate’s estate goes to the spouse or adult interdependent partner, as the case may be;

                                 (b)    if the intestate dies leaving a surviving spouse and more than one child or leaving a surviving adult interdependent partner and more than one child, 1/3 of the residue goes to the spouse or adult interdependent partner, as the case may be.

(3)  If a child of the intestate has died during the lifetime of the intestate leaving issue, one or more of whom are alive at the date of the intestate’s death, the surviving spouse or adult interdependent partner shall take the same share of the intestate’s estate as if the child had been living at that date.

RSA 2000 cI‑10 s3;2002 cA‑4.5 s47

Spouse and adult interdependent partner

3.1(1)  The following applies where an intestate dies leaving both a surviving spouse and a surviving adult interdependent partner:

                                 (a)    if the spouse was living with the intestate at the time of the intestate’s death, the spouse shall receive the spouse’s share of the intestate’s estate and the adult interdependent partner shall take no part in the estate as an adult interdependent partner;

                                 (b)    if the adult interdependent partner was living with the intestate at the time of the intestate’s death, the adult interdependent partner shall receive the adult interdependent partner’s share of the intestate’s estate and the spouse shall take no part in the estate as a spouse.

(2)  If at the time of the intestate’s death neither the surviving spouse nor the surviving adult interdependent partner was living with the intestate, whichever of them last lived with the intestate shall receive the spouse’s or adult interdependent partner’s share of the intestate’s estate, as the case may be, and the other shall take no part in the estate as a spouse or adult interdependent partner, as the case may be.

2002 cA‑4.5 s47;2002 c16 s3

Share limited

3.2   A person who is entitled to take a part of the intestate’s estate as an adult interdependent partner is not entitled under this Act to take any further part of the estate in another capacity.

2002 cA‑4.5 s47;2002 c16 s3

Shares of issue

4   If an intestate dies leaving issue, the estate shall be distributed, subject to the rights of the surviving spouse or adult interdependent partner, per stirpes among the issue.

RSA 2000 cI‑10 s4;2002 c16 s4

Neither spouse nor issue

5   If an intestate dies leaving no surviving spouse, adult interdependent partner or issue, the intestate’s estate goes to the intestate’s father and mother in equal shares if both are living, but if either of them is dead the estate goes to the other of them if still living.

RSA 2000 cI‑10 s5;2002 c16 s5

No spouse, issue or parent

6   If an intestate dies leaving no surviving spouse, adult interdependent partner, issue, father or mother, the intestate’s estate goes to the intestate’s brothers and sisters in equal shares, and if any brother or sister is dead, the children of the deceased brother or sister take the share their parent would have taken if living.

RSA 2000 cI‑10 s6;2002 c16 s6

Nephews and nieces

7   If an intestate dies leaving no surviving spouse, adult interdependent partner, issue, father, mother, brother or sister, the intestate’s estate goes to the intestate’s nephews and nieces in equal shares and in no case shall representation be admitted.

RSA 2000 cI‑10 s7;2002 c16 s6

Distribution among next of kin

8   If an intestate dies leaving no surviving spouse, adult interdependent partner, issue, father, mother, brother, sister, nephew or niece, the intestate’s estate shall be distributed equally among the next of kin of equal degree of consanguinity to the intestate and in no case shall representation be admitted.

RSA 2000 cI‑10 s8;2002 c16 s6

Degrees of kindred

9(1)  For the purposes of this Act, degrees of kindred shall be computed by counting upward from the intestate to the nearest common ancestor and then downward to the relative.

(2)  Kindred of the half‑blood shall inherit equally with those of the whole‑blood in the same degree.

RSA 1980 cI‑9 s9

Posthumous births

10   Descendants and relatives of the intestate, conceived before the intestate’s death but born afterwards, shall inherit as if they had been born in the lifetime of the intestate and had survived the intestate.

RSA 1980 cI‑9 s10

Advances to children

11(1)  If a child of a person who has died wholly intestate has been advanced by that person by portion, the portion shall be reckoned, for the purposes of this section only, as part of the estate of the intestate distributable according to law.

(2)  If the advancement is equal to or greater than the share of the estate that the child would be entitled to receive under the previous sections of this Act, the child and the child’s descendants are to be excluded from any share in the estate.

(3)  If the portion by which the child was advanced is less than that share, the child and the child’s descendants are entitled to receive so much only of the estate of the intestate as is sufficient to make all the shares of the children in the estate and the advancement as nearly equal as possible.

(4)  The value of any portion so advanced shall be deemed to be the value as expressed by the intestate, or acknowledged by the child, in writing; otherwise the value shall be deemed to be the value of the portion when advanced.

(5)  Unless the advancement has been expressed by the intestate, or acknowledged by the child, in writing, the onus of proving that a child has, with a view to a portion, been maintained or educated, or been given money, is on the person so asserting.

RSA 1980 cI‑9 s11

Estate undisposed of by will

12   So much of the estate of a person dying partially intestate as is not disposed of by the person’s will shall be distributed as if the person had died intestate and had left no other estate.

RSA 1980 cI‑9 s12

Desertion and adultery

13   A surviving spouse who had left the intestate and was living in adultery at the time of the intestate’s death shall take no part in the intestate’s estate.

RSA 1980 cI‑9 s15

Transitional

14(1)  In this section, “previous Act” means the Intestate Succession Act as it read immediately before it was amended by the Adult Interdependent Relationships Act.

(2)  The previous Act continues to apply in cases of death occurring before this section comes into force.

2002 cA‑4.5 s47