Dying without a will doesn't mean an estate goes unclaimed — it means state intestate succession law decides who inherits, in a fixed order that often doesn't reflect what the person would have wanted.
The default order of inheritance
Most states prioritize a surviving spouse and children first, then parents, then siblings, in a defined order — with the exact shares depending on which relatives survive and, in some states, how property was acquired.
Unmarried partners get nothing under intestacy
Intestate succession laws generally don't recognize unmarried partners at all, no matter how long the relationship lasted — one of the strongest reasons for unmarried couples to have a will regardless of estate size.
Blended families face the sharpest mismatches
Default intestacy formulas can split an estate in ways that surprise blended families — a surviving spouse and stepchildren from a prior relationship often don't inherit the way the deceased would have intended without a will spelling it out.
Minor children and guardianship
Without a will naming a guardian, a court decides who raises minor children if both parents are gone — a decision most parents would strongly prefer to make themselves.
A simple will solves most of this
Even a modest estate benefits from a basic will — it doesn't take a complex trust to redirect inheritance away from the state's default assumptions and toward what you'd actually choose.