Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: in Kansas, dying without a will does not mean the state keeps the estate; it means Kansas’s intestacy statute (K.S.A. 59-504, 59-505, 59-506, 59-507, 59-508, 59-509, 59-514 (Chapter 59, Probate Code, Article 5, Intestate Succession)) decides who gets it, and the surviving spouse usually does not take everything. The single most common misunderstanding on this page: a stepchild or a child from an earlier relationship can cut the spouse’s share sharply below what most people assume.
What this guide covers
Who inherits from Kansas residents who die without a will is set by statute, not custom: K.S.A. 59-504, 59-505, 59-506, 59-507, 59-508, 59-509, 59-514 (Chapter 59, Probate Code, Article 5, Intestate Succession) and the sections around it. It governs only the probate estate: what is left after retirement accounts and life insurance with a living named beneficiary, payable-on-death accounts, property in joint tenancy with survivorship, and anything already in a funded trust have already passed outside it. This page covers the spouse’s share, who inherits if there is no spouse, and the rules that can change the answer: half-blood relatives.
The spouse’s share
When the spouse takes everything: If the decedent leaves a spouse and no children nor issue of a previously deceased child, all the decedent’s property passes to the surviving spouse. (K.S.A. 59-504)
When it is less than everything: Flat, binary rule, no dollar-plus-fraction tiers and NO blended-family reduction: the spouse takes 100% of the estate if no children or issue of a deceased child survive; if ANY children or issue of a previously deceased child survive, the spouse takes exactly one-half (1/2) regardless of whether those children are shared with the spouse or are the decedent’s from outside the marriage (K.S.A. 59-504, 59-506). Kansas draws no distinction at all between shared and non-shared descendants, unlike Hawaii/Maine. Separately, K.S.A. 59-505 gives a surviving spouse an entitlement to one-half of real estate the decedent held during the marriage, a marital-property-style protection layered alongside the intestate share rather than a further tier of it.
If the decedent leaves a spouse and no children nor issue of a previously deceased child, all the decedent’s property shall pass to the surviving spouse. If the decedent leaves a spouse and a child, or children, or issue of a previously deceased child or children, one-half of such property shall pass to the surviving spouse.
Source: K.S.A. 59-504, 59-505, 59-506, 59-507, 59-508, 59-509, 59-514 (Chapter 59, Probate Code, Article 5, Intestate Succession)
If a DIY will fits your situation in Kansas
In Kansas, a surviving spouse can end up sharing the estate with a stepchild or a child from an earlier relationship under the default rules above; a will is what lets you decide that instead of the statute. LawDepot builds a state-specific last will and testament.
LawDepot pays us a commission if you buy through this link; it costs you nothing extra. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Affiliate Disclosure.
Who inherits if there is no spouse
K.S.A. 59-506 (children/issue of deceased children take all, or 1/2 if a spouse survives) then 59-507 (if no spouse, child, or issue: to surviving parent(s) equally, including adoptive parents) then 59-508 (if no spouse, child, issue, or parents: to the heirs of the parents respectively, as if the parents had owned the property in equal shares and died intestate); 59-509 sets only a 6th-degree-of-kinship cutoff on descent generally; 59-514 escheat to the state if no taker.
Rules that change the outcome
Half-blood relatives: No statute in K.S.A. 59-501 through 59-514 expressly addresses half-blood versus whole-blood kindred, confirmed by reading each section in the article directly; none contains the words ‘half blood’ or a differential-share clause. By this statutory silence (property passes to ‘heirs’ of a given degree without a blood-quantum qualifier), half-blood relatives take the same share as whole-blood relatives of equal degree; this reading is corroborated by secondary legal sources but is grounded here in the absence of any distinguishing primary-source clause, not an affirmative one.
What a will changes
A will does not just skip the statute above; it lets you choose who gets Kansas property that the intestacy rules would send somewhere else: a spouse who would otherwise share the estate with a stepchild, a partner who is not married and inherits nothing under intestacy at all, or specific people the statute’s ladder never reaches. It also lets you name an executor rather than leaving the court to appoint one. What it does not change: assets that already pass outside probate: a will has no effect on a beneficiary designation, a payable-on-death account, or property held in joint tenancy.
General information drawn from state intestate-succession statutes, not legal advice. Who inherits without a will is STATE law and differs in every state; the spouse’s share, the order of inheritance, and how half-blood and community-property rules apply all change, and every figure here is sourced and dated. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice.