No will: who inherits a house in Washington, DC

When a District homeowner dies without a will, the house does not go to the city and it does not go to whoever is living in it. It descends by statute — in fee simple, to a fixed list of relatives, in fixed shares. Here is that list, and what it means for a family that now co-owns a house together.

The house descends by statute, not by agreement

D.C. Code § 19–301 is the starting point. Real estate in the District belonging to a person who died without devising it by will descends in fee simple, and the surplus personal estate of a DC resident is distributed, to the surviving spouse or domestic partner, children, and other persons in the order the statute sets out. The same section says something that shapes everything afterward: the heirs take the real estate as tenants in common, in the same proportions as they take the personal estate.

Two consequences worth sitting with:

• Nobody chose the ownership structure. Four siblings can end up as four co-owners of one rowhouse whether or not any of them wanted that.
• Family arrangements are not title. The child who stayed in the house and paid the bills for a decade does not thereby own more of it. That is a real fairness question, but it is settled between the heirs — or, in a partition case, by the court — not by the descent statute.

The DC intestate shares, in order

The share of a surviving spouse or domestic partner is set by D.C. Code § 19–302:

• The entire intestate estate, if no descendant and no parent of the decedent survives.
• Two-thirds of the balance, if all the decedent's surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse or partner, and the spouse or partner has no other surviving descendant.
• Three-fourths of the balance, if no descendant survives but a parent of the decedent does.
• One-half of the balance, if all the decedent's surviving descendants are also the spouse's or partner's, but the spouse or partner also has one or more surviving descendants who are not the decedent's.
• One-half of the balance, if one or more of the decedent's surviving descendants are not descendants of the surviving spouse or partner.

What is left — or the whole estate where there is no surviving spouse or partner — passes down this ladder:

• Children. Where the decedent leaves children and no other descendants, the surplus is divided equally among them (§ 19–306).
• Grandchildren and further descendants by representation. Where a child has died, that child's descendants take the share their parent would have taken, and every other descendant living at the decedent's death stands in the place of the deceased ancestor; those in equal degree claiming through an ancestor take equal shares (§ 19–307).
• Parents. Where there is no child or descendant, the whole is divided equally between the father and mother, or to whichever of them survives (§ 19–308).
• Brothers and sisters and their descendants. Where there is no child, descendant, or parent, siblings — and the children or descendants of a deceased sibling, standing in their parent's place — take the whole, siblings sharing equally (§§ 19–309, 19–310).
• Collateral relations. After descendants, parents, siblings and siblings' descendants, all collateral relations in equal degree share, and representation is not allowed among collaterals (§ 19–311).
• Grandparents. Surviving grandparents share alike where there are no collaterals (§ 19–312).

One rule that quietly matters in older family properties: under § 19–313, where a person entitled to distribution dies before distribution is made, that person's share goes to their estate or legal representatives. It does not simply reallocate among the surviving relatives.

Who gets appointed when there is no will

Someone still has to be appointed to act. D.C. Code § 20–303 sets the order of priority, and the classes relevant to an intestate estate come in this sequence: the surviving spouse, domestic partner, or children of an intestate decedent; then residuary legatees; then children of a testate decedent; then grandchildren; then parents; then brothers and sisters; then next of kin; then other relations; then the decedent's largest creditor who applies; then any other person.

Within that framework the statute adds tie-breakers: whole-blood relations are preferred to half-blood in equal degree, half-blood in equal degree is preferred to whole blood in a remoter degree, relations descending are preferred to relations ascending in a collateral line (a nephew or niece over an uncle or aunt), and no one is preferred in the ascending line beyond a parent or in the descending line below a grandchild.

Practically, when several siblings share equal priority, one of them serves and the others consent — or the court sorts it out. Whoever serves takes on the same job any personal representative has: see a personal representative's duties when the estate owns a house and Letters of Administration and why they unlock the sale. If the person who serves lives elsewhere, the extra step is a resident-agent filing: out-of-state personal representative.

Heirs get notified — including the ones nobody has spoken to

An intestate estate cannot be run quietly among the relatives who happen to be in touch. Under D.C. Code § 20–704 the personal representative must publish notice of the appointment within 20 days, once a week for two successive weeks, and within the same 20 days send the text of that notice by registered or certified mail to the heirs and legatees and to creditors whose identities are known or reasonably ascertainable by reasonably diligent efforts.

The published notice itself tells any relative who does not receive mailed notice within 25 days to inform the Register of Wills of their name, address and relationship. It also opens the window in which objections to the appointment may be filed, and the six-month claims window measured from first publication.

So the estranged cousin in Georgia is part of this whether or not the family wants to find him. Locating heirs — not court backlog — is one of the most common reasons a DC intestate estate holding a house takes longer than the family expected. More on the timeline: how long DC probate takes.

Half-siblings, adopted children, and children born outside marriage

The ladder above is applied to real families, and DC's statute answers most of the questions families ask first:

• Half-siblings inherit equally with full siblings. D.C. Code § 19–315 is one sentence: there is no distinction between kindred of the whole and the half blood. A half-brother takes the same share as a full sister. (Whole blood still breaks ties for who gets appointed under § 20–303 — that is a different question from who inherits.)
• Adopted children are children. A final adoption decree makes the adoptee the adopter's child for all purposes, including inheritance, and cuts off inheritance between the adoptee and the birth family — except where the adopter is married to one of the birth parents, in which case that birth-parent side is untouched (§ 16–312(a)).
• Children born outside marriage inherit from their mother, and from their father if parenthood has been established, as if born in wedlock; the parents inherit from them the same way (§ 19–316). A child whose parents later married and whom the father acknowledged is treated as born in wedlock (§ 19–318). In practice, “established” is where heirship disputes happen — a probate attorney should look at what proof exists.
• A child born after the death has the same right of inheritance as one born before it (§ 19–314).
• Stepchildren and unmarried partners are not on the ladder. Sections 19–302 through 19–312 name a spouse or domestic partner and blood and adoptive relations; a stepchild who was never adopted is not named. If the family assumed otherwise, sort it out with counsel before anyone relies on it.

When a parent already helped one child: advancements

A common rowhouse story: years ago a parent gave one child the down payment on their own place, or deeded them a lot. Under D.C. Code § 19–319(a), if a child or descendant was advanced during the intestate's lifetime “by settlement or portion,” the value of that advancement is counted as part of the estate when the shares are worked out:

• Valued when given, not today (§ 19–319(a)).
• Advancement equal to or bigger than a share: that child takes nothing further, but does not have to pay anything back.
• Advancement smaller than a share: that child receives only enough to make all the children's shares equal, counting the advancement.
• The spouse gets no boost from bringing the advancement into the reckoning.
• Not every gift counts. Maintenance or education of a child, or giving money or real estate without a view to a portion or settlement in life, is not an advancement.
• Real estate is adjusted against real estate. If the advancement was real estate, the adjustment comes out of the real estate passing to the heirs; if personal property, out of the personal estate — with any shortfall made up from the other (§ 19–319(b)).

Whether a particular gift was an advancement is a fact question, and it directly changes each heir's fraction of the house — and so each heir's share of sale proceeds. Raise it early with the estate's attorney, before a contract and a settlement statement fix the numbers.

What tenants-in-common heirs can actually do with the house

Once the property has descended to several heirs as tenants in common, each of them owns an undivided fractional interest in the whole house — not a room, not a floor. That produces a predictable set of situations:

• A sale of the whole property needs everyone. A buyer purchasing the entire fee wants every co-owner on the deed, or the estate conveying while the property is still in administration.
• One heir can sell their own fractional interest — to a co-heir or to an investor. That rarely produces full value and permanently complicates the family's position. Nobody should do it on a deadline.
• Any co-owner can force the question. Under D.C. Code § 16–2901 the Superior Court may decree a partition of land on the complaint of a tenant in common claiming by descent or purchase; where the property cannot be divided without loss or injury to the parties interested, the court may order it sold and the money divided according to the parties' respective rights. A rowhouse cannot be cut in half, so in practice a DC partition case over a single-family property is a court-ordered sale.
• Occupancy and rent get accounted for. § 16–2901(c) provides that a tenant in common who has received the rents and profits to their own use may be required to account to the cotenants for their shares, and amounts found due may be charged against that party's share of the property or of the sale proceeds.

The reason to say all of this plainly: a negotiated sale almost always nets the family more than a partition suit, because a partition case adds lawyers on several sides, time, and a sale process nobody controls. Where heirs disagree, start here: what to do when heirs disagree about selling.

Selling an intestate DC house

Mechanically, selling a house in an intestate estate looks like any other DC estate sale. The milestone is the personal representative holding Letters of Administration, not the estate closing; the six-month creditor window under § 20–903 mainly governs when money can be distributed. A verified inventory with date-of-death values is generally due within three months of appointment under § 20–711, so a written date-of-death opinion of value is an early need, not a late one. Estates of $80,000 or less may qualify for the District's small estates track under § 20–351.

Three things that apply regardless of whether there was a will:

• No seller disclosure from the fiduciary. D.C. Code § 42–1301(b)(4) exempts a transfer by a fiduciary administering a decedent's estate from the District's seller disclosure requirement — which matters when no heir has ever lived in the house.
• Vacant-property classification has a probate exemption. Class 1A residential property is taxed at $0.85 per $100 of assessed value, Class 3 vacant at $5.00 and Class 4 blighted at $10.00; § 42–3131.06a(b)(3) provides an exemption from the vacant classification for property in probate for up to three tax years. Someone has to claim it. See what an inherited DC property costs to hold.
• Transfer costs are the same. DC recordation and transfer taxes each run 1.1% of consideration under $400,000 and 1.45% on the full amount at or above $400,000 — customarily split between buyer and seller, but negotiable.

The one difference that shows up in title work: an intestate chain of title depends on who the heirs are, so title companies look harder at the family tree. If an earlier death in the family was never probated, that gets fixed first. Also see selling an inherited house in DC and TOPA if there is a tenant in the property.

Edge cases: close-together deaths, no relatives, and the slayer rule

• The 120-hour rule. When inheritance depends on one person surviving another, someone not shown by clear and convincing evidence to have survived by 120 hours is treated as having died first (D.C. Code § 19–502(a)). That matters when spouses or a parent and child die in the same event or days apart. The rule does not apply where it would send the estate to the District (§ 19–502(b)).
• An heir who dies before distribution keeps the share; it passes through that heir's own estate (§ 19–313). This is how a house ends up with a second estate layered on top of the first — see the house that was never probated.
• No relatives close enough. The District takes only where there is no surviving spouse, domestic partner, or relation within the fifth degree, counted down from the common ancestor to the more remote person (§ 19–701(a)). Cousins usually fall inside that line, which is why escheat is rare and why the heir search matters.
• The slayer rule. A person convicted of murder or manslaughter of the decedent takes nothing from them by inheritance; the property passes as if that person had died first (§ 19–320(a)). A good-faith purchaser for value without notice is protected (§ 19–320(c)).

An heir who doesn't want a share: disclaiming

Some heirs would rather not own a fraction of a house in another city — or want their share to go to their own children. DC's Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act lets a person disclaim an inherited interest in whole or in part (D.C. Code § 19–1505(a)). The mechanics are strict:

• In writing, signed, declaring the disclaimer and describing the interest disclaimed (§ 19–1505(c)(1)).
• Delivered to the personal representative of the estate, or, if none is serving, filed with the court that would appoint one (§ 19–1512(c)).
• It relates back. A disclaimer of an intestate share takes effect as of the death, and the share passes as if the disclaiming heir had died just before distribution; where that heir's descendants would take by representation, the share goes to those descendants (§ 19–1506(b)(1), (3)(B)–(C)). So disclaiming usually moves the share to the heir's own children, not to the siblings.
• Too late once you act like an owner. A disclaimer is barred if the heir has already accepted the interest, or assigned, conveyed, encumbered or contracted to sell it, or a judicial sale has occurred (§ 19–1513(b)).

Because signing a listing or sale contract can cut off the option, an heir weighing a disclaimer should decide before the family signs anything. Federal tax timing, creditor and public-benefits effects are outside this page — that is a question for a CPA or the heir's own attorney.

Where we fit

We are a District real estate brokerage, not a law firm, and nothing here is legal or tax advice — heirship determinations in particular belong to a probate attorney. What we do for intestate families is the property half: a written date-of-death opinion of value for the inventory at no cost, an honest read on condition and price with several co-owners in the room, clear-out logistics, and a sale that a probate seller can actually perform on. If the family is still deciding whether to sell at all, that is a reasonable conversation to have first.

Related reading: the DC probate process start to finish, DC small estates under $80,000, when heirs disagree, and selling estate property as personal representative.

Sources: D.C. Code Title 20; the Probate Division of the D.C. Superior Court and the Office of the Register of Wills (dccourts.gov); and D.C. Law 25-302, the Strengthening Probate Administration Amendment Act of 2024. Rules change and individual cases vary — confirm anything that affects a decision with the Register of Wills or your own attorney.