Deck 4: Intestate Succession

Question 1

The term per stirpes means

A) posthumous.
B) by right of representation.
C) by the half blood.
D) by the heads.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

State laws provide that one who is convicted of murdering another can inherit from the victim's estate.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

When people die without a will, the law of the state in which the decedent is domiciled determines how their real property will pass.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

A divorce does not terminate the right of a former spouse to inherit from an intestate.

Question 5

In all estates, heirs must be listed on the court petition for probate of a will or administration of an estate.

Question 6

Many states allow half-blood kindred to take equally with whole-blood kindred.

Question 7

Today, most state laws allow nonmarital children to inherit from and through their mothers but not their fathers.

Question 8

When someone named to receive a gift in a will refuses to accept it, the property passes

A) to the state.
B) by intestacy to other family members.
C) to that person anyway.
D) according to the residuary clause of the will.

Question 9

When a husband and wife die in a common disaster, the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act allows the property of each person to be distributed as if he or she had not survived.

Question 10

The amount that a surviving spouse inherits from a spouse who dies without a will is the same in every state.

Question 11

For inheritance purposes, modern statutes generally treat adopted children as kindred of the adopting parents and as strangers to their former blood relatives.

Question 12

Lineal descendants, that is, people who have descended from a common ancestor, are referred to as issue.

Question 13

When the beneficiary of an insurance policy dies simultaneously with the insured, the proceeds of the policy are payable as if the insured had survived the beneficiary.

Question 14

When people die intestate survived by no spouse and no ascertainable kindred, their property passes to the state.

Question 15

The relationship between people who have the same ancestors but who do not ascend or descend from each other is

A) affinity.
B) lineal consanguinity.
C) collateral consanguinity.
D) half blood.

Question 16

When people die without a will, it is said that they die testate.

Question 17

People related by blood are said to be related by

A) affinity.
B) issue.
C) stirpes.
D) consanguinity.

Question 18

In most jurisdictions today, heirs are defined as those persons who are

A) entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of the decedent.
B) related to the decedent by affinity.
C) nearest of kindred to the decedent.
D) related to the decedent by collateral consanguinity.

Question 19

Posthumous issue do not inherit from a decedent because they were not born during the decedent's lifetime.

Question 20

Technically, descent refers to the passage of real property, and distribution refers to the passage of personal property.

Question 21

The following individuals would be considered lineal ascendants of a decedent:

A) Children.
B) Parents.
C) Grandchildren.
D) Second cousins.

Question 22

The amount that a surviving spouse inherits from a spouse who dies without a will

A) is the same in every state.
B) differs widely from state to state.
C) is $100,000 in most states.
D) is one-half of the estate in most states.

Question 23

First cousins are

A) first-degree relatives.
B) second-degree relatives.
C) third-degree relatives.
D) fourth-degree relatives.

Question 24

When a widow dies intestate survived by no issue, her property passes to her

A) mother but not her father, if both are alive.
B) father but not her mother, if both are alive.
C) mother and father equally, if both are alive.
D) None of the answers is correct.

Question 25

A posthumous child is a child who was

A) born prior to the death of the father.
B) born out of wedlock.
C) born after the death of the father.
D) conceived with frozen sperm after the father's death.

Question 26

The following individuals would be considered lineal descendants of a decedent:

A) First cousins.
B) Parents.
C) Grandparents.
D) Great grandchildren.

Question 27

When someone dies intestate survived by no issue and no father or mother, the part of the estate not passing to the surviving spouse usually passes to the

A) decedent's brothers and sisters equally.
B) state.
C) decedent's children.
D) decedent's nieces and nephews.

Question 28

The term per capita means by

A) the heads.
B) right of representation.
C) degree of kindred.
D) the roots.

Question 29

The term escheat refers to

A) fraudulent practices of a decedent.
B) unethical practices of an attorney.
C) a decedent's having cheated on an income tax return.
D) a decedent's property passing to the state.

Question 30

Under the Uniform Probate Code, a person born out of wedlock is a child of the mother, and also a child of the father if the

A) father has not openly treated the child as his.
B) father has refused to support the child.
C) paternity has not been established by an adjudication before the death of the father.
D) natural parents participated in a marriage ceremony before or after the birth of the child.