Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: in Mississippi, dying without a will does not mean the state keeps the estate; it means Mississippi’s intestacy statute (Miss. Code Ann. §§ 91-1-3 (descent of land), 91-1-5 (half-bloods), 91-1-7 (descent of property between husband and wife)) 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 Mississippi residents who die without a will is set by statute, not custom: Miss. Code Ann. §§ 91-1-3 (descent of land), 91-1-5 (half-bloods), 91-1-7 (descent of property between husband and wife) 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: Spouse takes the ENTIRE estate only when the decedent left no children and no descendants of children. Miss. Code Ann. § 91-1-7: ‘If a husband dies intestate without children or descendants of children, his widow is entitled to his entire estate, real and personal, in fee simple, after payment of debts.’ The reciprocal rule applies when a wife dies leaving no children or their descendants (husband inherits all).
When it is less than everything: Mississippi uses NO UPC-style dollar-plus-fraction formula. If the decedent leaves no children/descendants, the surviving spouse takes 100% of the estate. If the decedent leaves a child or children (from that marriage OR a prior marriage) or descendants of children, the surviving spouse takes only ‘a child’s part’; i.e., the estate is divided per capita as if the spouse were one additional child-equivalent taking unit (2 children => spouse gets 1/3; 3 children => spouse gets 1/4, etc.). Blended-family reduction: NONE beyond the ordinary child’s-part rule. Section 91-1-7 explicitly states the widow gets the same ‘child’s part’ whether the children are ‘by that or a former marriage’; Mississippi treats stepchildren-of-the-decedent (children from a prior marriage) identically to mutual children for sizing the spouse’s share; there is no separate, smaller statutory tier for blended families as in UPC states.
If a husband dies intestate without children or descendants of children, his widow is entitled to his entire estate, real and personal, in fee simple, after payment of debts; but if the deceased husband leaves a child or children by that or a former marriage, or descendants of such children, his widow has a child’s part of his estate, in either case in fee simple.
Source: Miss. Code Ann. §§ 91-1-3 (descent of land), 91-1-5 (half-bloods), 91-1-7 (descent of property between husband and wife)
If a DIY will fits your situation in Mississippi
In Mississippi, 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.
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Who inherits if there is no spouse
Section 91-1-3, in order: (1) children and their descendants in equal parts (a deceased child’s descendants take that parent’s share); (2) if none, to the brothers and sisters and father and mother of the intestate and the descendants of such brothers and sisters, in equal parts; (3) if none, to the grandparents and uncles and aunts, in equal parts; (4) if none, to the next of kin of the intestate in equal degree, computing by the rules of the civil law, with no representation among collaterals except among descendants of the decedent’s brothers and sisters.
Rules that change the outcome
Half-blood relatives: FULL share as a general rule, but whole-blood is preferred over half-blood only when they compete in the SAME degree. Section 91-1-5: ‘There shall not be, in any case, a distinction between the kindred of the whole and half-blood, except that the kindred of the whole-blood, in equal degree, shall be preferred to the kindred of the half-blood in the same degree.’
Sourcing note: Mississippi’s official statute host could not be reached this session; this row is sourced to independent verbatim-text mirrors instead of the state’s own site; see https://codes.findlaw.com/ms/title-91-trusts-and-estates/ms-code-sect-91-1-7/.
What a will changes
A will does not just skip the statute above; it lets you choose who gets Mississippi 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.