Q & A | Inheritance for Collateral Kindred

Q:  When there is an intestate death, and the decedent did not have a surviving spouse or children or parents, leaving siblings as the heirs at law,  do half brothers and/or half sisters inherit the same percentage interest as a full brother or sister?

A: No, the half brothers/sisters only inherit half as much as a full sibling.  Texas Estates Code, Sec. 201.057.  COLLATERAL KINDRED OF WHOLE AND HALF BLOOD.  If the inheritance from an intestate passes to the collateral kindred of the intestate and part of the collateral kindred are of whole blood and the other part are of half blood of the intestate, each of the collateral kindred who is of half blood inherits only half as much as that inherited by each of the collateral kindred who is of whole blood.  If all of the collateral kindred are of half blood of the intestate, each of the collateral kindred inherits a whole portion.

Added by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 680 (H.B. 2502), Sec. 1, eff. January 1, 2014.