Video Summary
What happens to personal property if there is no will? I am assuming that the question presupposes or supposes that the person has passed away and has personal property.
And so what usually happens is, whoever gets to the personal property first, if it is untitled, is the one that takes advantage of it and does whatever they want to with it.
What should happen is that an estate proceeding should be established, although rarely it is, and the children or heirs of the decedent agree as to who is going to be the executor or personal representative of the estate. The personal representative then would inventory and list all the personal property and then sell it.
Now there is an exemption against the claims of creditors for personal property in a probate proceeding so that it goes to the children as far as that is concerned.
So my experience has been that if their only asset that the decedent has is personal property, usually the relatives or the caregiver or whomever is close to the decedent, takes care of disposing of the property and sometimes that creates some problems with the other heirs or relatives whenever they do not share it. But rarely is an estate opened unless there is titled personal property other than an automobile.
So if you have any questions about an estate, give me a call at 727-847-2288.