Heir: Definition and How It Works in California

By Eric Ridley, attorney, Ridley Law. Updated September 2026.

An heir is a person entitled to inherit under California’s intestate succession rules when someone dies without a will. A beneficiary is named in a document; an heir is determined by family relationship instead.

How it works in California

Prob. Code, § 44 defines an heir as anyone entitled to take a decedent’s property by intestate succession. That status only matters when there’s no valid will or trust covering an asset; a person can be a close relative and still not be an heir to anything, if the decedent left a complete estate plan that accounted for everything they owned. Some people assume they have no heirs at all; that’s rarely true under California law. See estate planning without heirs in California for how the rules reach further than most people expect.

California’s intestate succession rules rank relatives in a specific order: spouse and children first, then parents, then siblings, and on through more distant relatives if closer ones don’t survive. An heir’s share depends on exactly who else survives the decedent, not just on how closely they’re related.

Being an heir doesn’t require living in California or even in the United States. An out-of-state or overseas relative can still be an heir to a California estate, though proving the relationship and receiving the inheritance often takes more documentation.

Why it matters

For example, a man dies without a will, survived only by a niece he hadn’t spoken with in twenty years. He may not have thought of her as part of his plan at all, but under intestate succession she’s still his heir and stands to inherit the entire estate if no closer relative survives him. For what that looks like when the heir lives elsewhere, see out-of-state heirs inheriting from a California estate.

Common mistakes

Assuming a stated intention, like telling family members who should get what, has any legal effect without a will or trust to back it up. Overlooking a relative who technically qualifies as an heir because the family lost touch with them. Confusing an heir with a beneficiary and assuming the two always mean the same group of people.

Related terms

• Intestate succession: the set of rules that determines who qualifies as an heir and what they receive.
• Beneficiary: the document-based counterpart to an heir.
• Per stirpes: one method for dividing an inheritance among heirs when a closer relative has already died.
• Pretermitted heir: a child accidentally left out of a will who still receives an heir’s share.
• Decedent: the legal word for the person who has died.
• Lineal Descendants: children, grandchildren, and so on down the direct line.

Part of the California estate planning glossary. For the full treatment, see CA Estate Planning Without Heirs.