What Happens If You Die Without a Will in Maine?

In Maine, whether your parents are alive significantly affects what your spouse inherits. If neither parent survives you, your spouse inherits everything. But if a parent is still living, your spouse must share the estate with them—typically receiving a fixed dollar amount plus a percentage of the remainder, with the rest going to your parents. This surprises many couples who assume everything goes to the surviving spouse. A will ensures your spouse receives your full estate if that's your preference.

Blended families face different rules in Maine. When you have children who are not also children of your surviving spouse—whether from a previous marriage, prior relationship, or born before the current marriage—your spouse receives only half of your estate. The other half goes directly to your children. This protects children from being inadvertently disinherited by a step-parent who might otherwise inherit everything and leave nothing to them.

Maine requires heirs to survive you by 120 hours (5 days) to inherit. If an heir dies within this window, they're treated as having died before you, and their share passes to the next eligible heirs. This prevents the complication of assets passing through multiple estates when family members die close together—such as in an accident or during a shared illness. The 5-day period gives time for the situation to stabilize before determining who ultimately inherits.

Maine uses "per capita at each generation" distribution—a modern approach that treats grandchildren more fairly than traditional rules. If one of your children dies before you, their share doesn't just pass to their children (your grandchildren). Instead, all grandchildren from all deceased children pool together and divide that combined share equally. This prevents the unfairness that can occur when one deceased child had four kids while another had one—under older "per stirpes" rules, those grandchildren would receive dramatically different amounts despite being in the same generation.

Maine's intestacy laws are codified in 18-C M.R.S. § 2-102. These statutes define exactly who inherits and in what proportions when someone dies without a valid will. The rules can change through legislative action, so anyone relying on intestacy should verify current law. More importantly, these default rules rarely match what people actually want—creating a will or trust lets you choose your beneficiaries rather than letting the state decide for you.