Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: in Texas, dying without a will does not mean the state keeps the estate; it means Texas’s intestacy statute (Tex. Estates Code §201.002 (separate property); §201.003 (community property)) 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 Texas residents who die without a will is set by statute, not custom: Tex. Estates Code §201.002 (separate property); §201.003 (community property) 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, community property.
The spouse’s share
When the spouse takes everything: As to separate property: spouse takes the entire estate only if decedent leaves no child/descendant of a child AND no surviving parent AND no surviving sibling or sibling’s descendant; §201.002(d). As to community property: spouse takes the ENTIRE community estate if decedent leaves no child/descendant, OR if every surviving child/descendant is also a child/descendant of the surviving spouse; §201.003(b).
When it is less than everything: Separate property, WITH descendants (§201.002(b)): spouse takes one-third of personal estate, two-thirds passes to the descendants; spouse also gets a LIFE ESTATE (not full ownership) in one-third of the decedent’s land, remainder to descendants. Separate property, NO descendants (§201.002(c)-(d)): spouse gets all personal property, and outright ownership of one-half the land (other half descends per intestacy rules) UNLESS no surviving parent/sibling/sibling’s descendant either, in which case spouse gets the entire estate outright. Community property (§201.003): if ALL surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse (or there are none), the ENTIRE community estate passes to the spouse. BLENDED-FAMILY RULE; the key differentiator: ‘If the deceased spouse is survived by a child or other descendant who is not also a child or other descendant of the surviving spouse, the deceased spouse’s undivided one-half interest in the community estate passes to the deceased spouse’s children or other descendants’ (§201.003(c)); i.e., the spouse keeps only their own pre-existing half; the decedent’s half bypasses the spouse entirely and goes to the non-mutual descendants.
Tex. Estates Code §201.003(b)-(c): ‘(b) The community estate of the deceased spouse passes to the surviving spouse if: (1) no child or other descendant of the deceased spouse survives the deceased spouse; or (2) all of the surviving children and descendants of the deceased spouse are also children or descendants of the surviving spouse. (c) If the deceased spouse is survived by a child or other descendant who is not also a child or other descendant of the surviving spouse, the deceased spouse’s undivided one-half interest in the community estate passes to the deceased spouse’s children or other descendants.’
Source: Tex. Estates Code §201.002 (separate property); §201.003 (community property)
If a DIY will fits your situation in Texas
In Texas, 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
§201.001: (b) children and their descendants; (c) if none, parents equally; (d) if only one parent survives, estate splits 50/50 between that parent and the decedent’s siblings/their descendants (or 100% to the surviving parent if no siblings/descendants exist); (e) if no parent survives, siblings and their descendants take all; (f)-(h) if none of the above survive, estate splits into a paternal moiety and a maternal moiety, each passing to that side’s grandparents (or their descendants), ‘and so on without end, passing in like manner to the nearest lineal ancestors and their descendants.’ Escheat to the state is the final backstop (not reached in the chapter excerpted, but the statutory default when no kindred of either line survives).
Rules that change the outcome
Half-blood relatives: REDUCED to half-share, but only for COLLATERAL kindred (not descendants). §201.057: ‘If the inheritance from an intestate passes to the collateral kindred of the intestate and part of the collateral kindred are of whole blood and the other part are of half blood of the intestate, each of the collateral kindred who is of half blood inherits only half as much as that inherited by each of the collateral kindred who is of whole blood. If all of the collateral kindred are of half blood of the intestate, each of the collateral kindred inherits a whole portion.’
Community property: Texas is a community-property state. If every surviving child is also the spouse’s own child, the spouse takes the entire community estate. If even one surviving child is not the spouse’s, the decedent’s half of the community estate bypasses the spouse entirely and goes to that child (Tex. Estates Code §201.003).
What a will changes
A will does not just skip the statute above; it lets you choose who gets Texas 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.