If you went without a will...

Then, according to Hawaii Revised Statutes, Chapter 560:2-102, it all goes to the surviving spouse if either there are no descendants or parents or if all the descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse and the surviving spouse has no other surviving children. Of course, anything may happen thereafter, since the surviving spouse will be completely free to do whatever he or she wants with the money, including spend it on a new spouse! If there are some survivors such as children or parents, adopted or by birth, and regardless of where they live, citizenship, etc., the government has made some other determinations, such as cutting the children and descendants in first, to one-fourth of the excess over the first $200,000 of the estate, in case a parent survives the decedent, still leaving the surviving spouse free to waste the first $200,000 and three-fourths of anything over that.

In case the surviving spouse has any children other than in common with the decedent but the decedent has none other than those he or she had through the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse's share is $150,000 plus one-half of the amount in excess of $150,000. However, if any of the decedent's descendants aren't from the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse "only" get the first $100,000 plus one-half of the remainder. This really does accomplish the goal of leaving a little more for descendants which the surviving spouse might otherwise not fully consider. However, consider that it may be placed in the management of the surviving spouse if these other descendants are minors and in the custody of the surviving spouse, and it still turns out that it is an inheritance that could quickly turn into nothing. It may "pass" to the surviving spouse in case of, say, a fatal accident together, and then "pass" on to the descendants or (if none) parents of that surviving spouse even if that surviving spouse survived an accident only five days longer than the decedent, thus affording no real benefit to the surviving spouse but a real benefit to the descendants or parents, etc., of the surviving spouse.

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