Ashford International Law P.C.

Where a person domiciled in the District of Columbia dies without a valid last will and testament, the District’s intestacy statute determines who receives the personal property that passes through the estate, and the same statute governs District of Columbia real estate, whatever the domicile of its owner. The rules are set out in Title 19 of the District of Columbia Code, and the procedure in Title 20. Of the three jurisdictions in the Washington area, the District is the one in which a surviving spouse is least likely to receive the entire estate. This page sets out the rules as they stand in September 2026. The overview of statutory succession compares the District with Maryland, Virginia, California and Germany.

Summary

1. The surviving spouse or domestic partner receives the entire estate only if neither descendants nor parents survive. Where descendants survive, the spouse receives two-thirds or one-half, and where no descendant but a parent survives, three-quarters.
2. The share not passing to the spouse passes to the descendants, or to the parents, outright, even where the descendants are minors.
3. Where there is no spouse or descendant, the estate passes to the parents, then to the siblings and their descendants, then to other collateral relatives, and escheats to the District if no relative within the fifth degree survives.
4. A foreign national who is not a lawful permanent resident of the United States cannot be appointed personal representative of a District of Columbia estate.
5. The District levies an estate tax on estates above $4,988,400 for deaths in 2026, but no inheritance tax.

Part I. The estate subject to the statute

The statute governs the net estate that passes through administration. Property held by spouses or domestic partners as tenants by the entirety, property held in joint tenancy with a right of survivorship, accounts with payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designations, life insurance, retirement accounts and trust assets pass outside the estate. Under the traditional conflict rule, District of Columbia law governs succession to the movable property of a person domiciled in the District and to real estate located in the District, irrespective of the owner’s domicile. In the view of the District’s courts, a condominium in the District owned by a resident of Germany therefore passes under the District’s statute.

Part II. The surviving spouse or domestic partner

D.C. Code § 19-302 sets out five cases, and a registered domestic partner is treated in the same manner as a spouse.

D.C. Code § 19-302.

The District’s rule has three consequences that distinguish it from its neighbors. First, a spouse in a first marriage with children of that marriage receives only two-thirds, and one-third passes to the children outright, including children who are minors. The share of a minor child ordinarily requires a conservatorship or guardianship of the property until majority. Second, the surviving parents of a childless decedent receive one-quarter of the estate, which a Maryland or Virginia spouse would receive in full. Third, the spouse’s own children from an earlier relationship reduce the spouse’s share to one-half, although they are not heirs of the decedent.

Property passing to a spouse who is not a United States citizen does not qualify for the federal marital deduction unless it passes to a qualified domestic trust (IRC § 2056(d)). Because the District’s statute sends part of the estate to the descendants or parents in most family situations, the question of the marital deduction arises in almost every District of Columbia intestacy involving a taxable estate.

Part III. Descendants, parents and other relatives

Whatever does not pass to the spouse, and the entire estate where there is no spouse, passes to the decedent’s descendants in equal shares, with the descendants of a predeceased child taking that child’s share by representation (D.C. Code §§ 19-306 and 19-307). Where no descendant survives, the estate passes in the following order (D.C. Code §§ 19-308 to 19-312):

1. to the parents, as to the one-quarter described above, or as to the whole where there is no spouse;
2. if neither parent survives, to the brothers and sisters and the descendants of deceased brothers and sisters;
3. if there are none, to the collateral relatives of the nearest degree;
4. only where there are no collateral relatives, to the grandparents;
5. if no relative within the fifth degree survives, the estate escheats to the District of Columbia (D.C. Code § 19-701).

Stepchildren do not inherit under the District’s statute.

Part IV. Particular family situations

Unmarried partners who are neither registered nor married under the common-law rules inherit nothing, irrespective of the duration of the relationship.

Part V. Administration without a will

The Probate Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia appoints the personal representative. For an intestate decedent, the surviving spouse or domestic partner and the children have first priority, followed by the grandchildren, the parents, the brothers and sisters, the next of kin, other relatives and the largest creditor (D.C. Code § 20-303(a)). The statute disqualifies, among others, a foreign national who has not been lawfully admitted for permanent residence (D.C. Code § 20-303(b)). A nonresident of the District who is otherwise eligible may serve after filing an irrevocable power of attorney designating the Register of Wills to receive notices and process.

The disqualification of foreign nationals is of particular significance for families abroad. An heir who lives in Germany, France or Switzerland and holds no United States permanent residence cannot be appointed, even as the sole heir, and a personal representative in the United States must be found.

A bond is required unless all interested persons consent to waive it (D.C. Code § 20-502). Most estates are administered as unsupervised administrations, in which the personal representative does not file inventories or accounts with the court and is not subject to continuing court supervision, but remains accountable to the heirs (D.C. Code § 20-401). Notice of the appointment is published, and claims of creditors are barred unless presented within six months after the first publication (D.C. Code § 20-903). Estates with property subject to administration of no more than $80,000 may use the small estate procedure; the limit was raised from $40,000 with effect from March 2025 (D.C. Code § 20-351).

Part VI. Tax consequences

The District of Columbia levies an estate tax on estates exceeding $4,988,400 for deaths in 2026, at rates of up to 16 percent. It has no inheritance tax. For deaths in 2026, the federal basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000.

Only the spouse’s share qualifies for the marital deduction. Where the statute sends one-third or one-half of a taxable estate to the descendants, or one-quarter to the parents, District of Columbia estate tax that a will in favor of the spouse would have deferred may become payable at the first death. A disclaimer seldom corrects the result, because a disclaimed intestate share generally passes as if the disclaiming heir had predeceased the decedent, which often means to that heir’s own children. The unused federal exclusion of the first spouse to die is preserved for the survivor only if a federal estate tax return is filed and the portability election is made.

Part VII. Heirs and assets outside the District

Foreign nationality does not prevent a person from inheriting under the District’s statute. The practical difficulties lie in the appointment of the personal representative, described above, in the documentation of heirship, and in the withholding and taxpayer identification requirements that apply when a foreign heir sells inherited real estate in the District.

Where a District of Columbia domiciliary owns real estate in Germany, a German court applies District of Columbia law as the law of the last habitual residence, but accepts the District’s reference to the law of the place where the real estate lies (EU Succession Regulation, Arts. 21 and 34(1)(a)). The German real estate therefore passes under German statutory succession, as described on the page on statutory succession in Germany. Conversely, where a decedent living abroad owns real estate in the District, the German or French court applies its own law to the entire estate, while the Superior Court applies the District’s statute to the real estate. The federal estate tax exemption equivalent for a nonresident who is not a United States citizen is only $60,000, subject to the estate tax treaties, and the District’s estate tax can reach real estate located in the District.

Part VIII. Practical steps

1. Establish the decedent’s domicile and list the assets that pass through the estate, separately from assets held by the entirety, jointly or with a beneficiary designation.
2. Identify the descendants of the decedent and of the surviving spouse, and the surviving parents, since each of them affects the spouse’s share.
3. Determine whether any heir who wishes to serve as personal representative is disqualified, in particular as a foreign national without permanent residence.
4. Obtain the consents required to waive bond, or arrange a surety.
5. Where a minor child inherits, arrange the conservatorship or guardianship of the property that the child’s share requires.
6. Assess the District of Columbia and federal estate tax consequences of the statutory division before any distribution.

Conclusion

The District’s statute divides the estate in most family situations, even between spouses in a first marriage. For married residents of the District, a will or a revocable trust is the principal means of ensuring that the surviving spouse receives the estate, that minor children do not receive property outright, and that a suitable personal representative is available.

How the firm helps

Ashford International Law PC advises families in the District of Columbia on estate plans and advises personal representatives and heirs on the settlement of District of Columbia estates, including estates with heirs or assets in Europe. The overview of statutory succession compares the District with the other jurisdictions in which the firm’s attorneys are licensed, and the article on dying without a last will and testament in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia compares the three neighboring statutes. Related material is available on the firm’s pages on estate settlements, non-US beneficiaries, non-US decedents and estate planning for non-US citizens.

This page is intended for general educational purposes and does not constitute legal or tax advice, nor does it create an attorney-client relationship. The matters described depend on the specific facts, the countries and states concerned, and the law in effect at the relevant time. Statuses and figures are stated as of September 2026 and must be confirmed before any decision.