intestate

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Related to intestate: Intestate succession

intestate

said of a person who dies without having made a will: No one knows who her heirs should be because she died intestate.

Not to be confused with:

interstate – connecting different states: interstate commerce; a highway serving more than one state: the U.S. Interstate Highway System

intrastate – operating within the boundaries of a state: intrastate companies

in·tes·tate

(ĭn-tĕs′tāt′, -tĭt) Law

adj.

1. Having made no legal will: an intestate parent.

2. Not disposed of by a legal will: intestate lands.

One who dies without a legal will.

[Middle English, from Old French intestat, from Latin intestātus : in-, not; see in-¹ + testātus, testate, from past participle of testārī, to make a will; see testament.]

in·tes′ta·cy (-tə-sē) n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

intestate

(ɪnˈtɛsteɪt; -tɪt)

adj

(Law)

a. (of a person) not having made a will

b. (of property) not disposed of by will

(Law) a person who dies without having made a will

[C14: from Latin intestātus, from in-¹ + testātus, from testārī to bear witness, make a will, from testis a witness]

inˈtestacy n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

in•tes•tate

(ɪnˈtɛs teɪt, -tɪt)

adj.

1. not having made a will: to die intestate.

2. not disposed of by will: Her property remains intestate.

3. a person who dies intestate.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Latin intestātus;=in, in- ³ + testātus testate]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj. 1. intestate - having made no legally valid will before death or not disposed of by a legal will; "he died intestate"; "intestate property"

law, jurisprudence - the collection of rules imposed by authority; "civilization presupposes respect for the law"; "the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order"

testate - having made a legally valid will before death

Translations

intestato

intestate

[ɪnˈtestɪt] ADJ to die intestate → morir intestado

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

intestate

[ɪnˈtɛsteɪt] adj → intestat f inv

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

intestate

adj (Jur) → nicht testamentarisch vermacht ; to die intestate → ohne Testament sterben

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

intestate

[ɪnˈtɛstɪt] adj (Law) to die intestate → morire intestato/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in classic literature ?

Ralph, having died intestate, and having no relations but those with whom he had lived in such enmity, they would have become in legal course his heirs.

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Vanstone to have died intestate, the law takes due care of the interests of his widow and his children -- "

The law, if he has died intestate, gives a third of his property to his widow, and divides the rest equally among his children."

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"As I daresay you know," went on Sir Henry, "if a man dies intestate, and has no property but land, real property it is called in England, it all descends to his eldest son.

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Now every one is permitted to make a woman his heir if he pleases; and if he dies intestate, he who succeeds as heir at law gives it to whom he pleases.

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Huntingdon had died intestate or not; and I would sooner die than ask him, lest he should misconstrue into covetousness my desire to know.

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"For example, then," continued Holgrave: "a dead man, if he happens to have made a will, disposes of wealth no longer his own; or, if he die intestate, it is distributed in accordance with the notions of men much longer dead than he.

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So, the turnkey thought about it all his life, and died intestate after all.

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Soon the careless nobleman forgot all about his former mistress and the child she had borne him; then, as we know, he died intestate. P--

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Domestic partners would thus have the option of either making a will or dying intestate, in either case being "assure[d] that accumulated wealth [would] pass[] to their intended takers."(193) This approach would also end the courts' need to develop legal fictions to fulfill the equitable demands of domestic partnership relations.(194) Through these legal maneuvers, courts have attributed the responsibilities and benefits of marriage to nonmarital relationships.(195) If legislatures extended intestacy laws to cover domestic partnerships, courts could then justifiably consider a surviving partner to be the natural object of a decedent's bounty without the added confusion and complexity of judicial fictions.

Respecting commitment: a proposal to prevent legal barriers from obstructing the effectuation of intestate goals

It should be stressed that for obvious reasons our analysis includes only those cases where wills were left, whereas cases of intestate succession have been omitted, although even in these latter cases the decedent implicitly acknowledges a certain legal succession, namely that provided for by law.

DEATH AND THE TRANSFER OF WEALTH: BEQUEST PATTERNS AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY