What Happens If You Don’t Write a Will? 3 Real-Life Scenarios You Need to Know

Most people know they should make a Will — but life gets busy, and it’s easy to assume everything will “just work out.” Unfortunately, when someone dies without a Will (called dying intestate), the outcome is rarely what that person would have wanted.

Here’s the hard truth: if you don’t make a plan, the law makes one for you. And that legal backup plan often leads to confusion, unintended consequences and conflict among your loved ones.

To highlight just how important it is to create a Will, let’s look at three scenarios where someone dies without one — and what happens next.

Scenario 1: Who’s in Charge? The Fight for Control

Meet Morgan. Morgan dies without a Will, leaving behind a spouse, two adult children from a prior marriage, and a few assets in Morgan's sole name. There’s no named executor or clear plan.

What happens?

• No one is legally authorized to act right away. Someone must petition the probate court to become the estate’s “administrator.” That takes time — often weeks or months — and requires court approval.
  
• Multiple people may want the job. The current spouse and the adult children may disagree over who should be in charge. That disagreement can delay everything: funeral arrangements, bill payments and distributing any assets. Everyone has to wait while the disagreements play out.
  
• Friction and distrust can grow quickly. Even if someone is eventually appointed, the others may question every decision, suspect favoritism or argue over access to money.
  

Lesson: A Will lets you choose who’s in charge. Without one, you leave your family to fight it out in probate court.

Learn more about probate court: What's Probate and Why Should I Avoid It?

Scenario 2: You Have Minor Children — But No Guardian Named

Meet Jamie and Taylor. They’re in their 30s, with two young kids. They assumed they’d get around to writing a Will eventually, but never made it a priority. Then the unexpected happens: Jamie and Taylor are tragically killed in a car accident.

What happens next?

• No legal guardian has been named. A court now has to decide who should raise the kids. Guardianship will be the prime focus if both parents pass unexpectedly (or also if a surviving spouse becomes unable to care for the children).
  
• The court may choose someone the parents never would have picked. It might be a relative who the parents don't like and didn't trust, with a completely different parenting philosophy, or even someone with a rocky history that gets overlooked by the court.
  
• Family members could end up fighting over custody. Without clear direction, relatives might step in — not out of malice, but out of love — and disagree over who’s best suited to take over. This could result in a drawn out legal battle over custody, with your kids stuck in the middle.
  

Lesson: Naming a guardian in your Will is the only way to make your voice legally count. Without it, you leave the most important decision in your children’s lives up to strangers in a courtroom.

Scenario 3: Different States, Different Rules — And Big Surprises

Meet Chris. Chris is single and owns a condo in Florida, a rental property in New York and a bank account in California. He never wrote a Will, figuring that if anything happened to him, his siblings would just “figure it out.”

What happens?

• Each state applies its own intestacy rules. Florida may give priority to parents, New York might distribute everything among siblings, and California could divide assets differently depending on whether the parents are alive. The lack of a Will (or any clear beneficiaries designated) results in conflict between states.
  
• Different timelines and probate procedures apply. Multiple courts are now involved, each with its own process, delays and fees. The result? A legal and logistical nightmare for grieving relatives.
  
• Chris’s actual wishes don’t matter. Maybe Chris wanted to leave the Florida condo to his niece who lived nearby and cared for him — but without a Will, the law doesn’t care. The default rules apply.
  

Lesson: State intestacy laws are a patchwork, and if you own assets in more than one place, dying without a Will can create an incredibly costly and confusing mess.

The Bottom Line: If You Don’t Make a Will, the Law Makes One for You

And that “default plan” rarely reflects your values, your relationships, or your wishes. It’s one-size-fits-no-one.

At Herbie, we believe everyone deserves the peace of mind that comes with having a smart, legally sound estate plan — no matter your age, assets, or family structure. That’s why we’ve built a platform that makes it easy, affordabl and reliable to get your Will done — without blank text boxes or sky-high legal fees.

Because the alternative? Uncertainty, court battles and outcomes you can’t control.

Ready to take control of your future? Start your plan for free here. Your family will thank you later.