A person who dies without a will is a person who dies intestate. A person who dies intestate has their estate distributed according to the scheme set up by the state called intestate succession. It can be said that everyone dies with a will. Intestate succession proceeds as follows under EPIC upon the death of the decedent. The dollar amount of the intestate share of the surviving spouse shall be adjusted annually for inflation beginning January 1, 2001.
Spouse takes the entire share if there are no surviving descendants or parent.
The decedent's descendants by representation. If there is no surviving descendant, the decedent's parents equally if both survive or to the surviving parent. If there is no surviving descendant or parent, the descendants of the decedent's parents or of either of them by representation. If there is no taker under the above provisions, the intestate estate passes to the state of Michigan. Under the Revised Probate Code representation was used to mean a per stirpes distribution.