Who gets the estate if there is no will and no living relatives?

Curious as to what happens when a person dies without a will and has no relatives? One of my readers recently mentioned this situation. His note and my response are below.

"I believe that this would be a very rare occurrence but I am curious as to how it would be handled.

Lets say a person, who does not have any living relatives and does not have any beneficiaries named, dies intestate who would benefit from his estate?"

Each province and territory in Canada has legislation that sets out who receives the estate of a person who dies without a will. There are some variations from place to place but generally the arrangement goes like this:

If a person leaves  a spouse but no children, the spouse gets the estate.

If a person leaves a spouse and children, there is some division between them, depending on the province of residence and other factors. Note that if one of the deceased's children had already died leaving children, those children (grand-children of the deceased, and legally called "issue") would inherit their parent's share.

If a person leaves no spouse or issue, the estate would to to his or her parents.

If a person leaves no spouse, issue, or parents, the estate would to to his or her siblings. Note that if one of the siblings had already died, that sibling's children (nieces and nephews of the deceased) would inherit their parent's share.

If a person leaves no spouse, issue, parents, or siblings, the estate would go to his or her nieces and nephews. The share of a deceased niece or nephew would not go to that person's children but would instead be shared among the surviving nieces and nephews.

If a person leaves none of these relatives, the estate would be divided among all next-of-kin who are the closest relatives.

I agree with you that it's relatively rare that no relatives at all can be found. However, money has to go somewhere as it cannot sit forever in the name of someone who has passed away. The estate would end up being paid to the government of the province in which the deceased lived. In this situation, the government is referred to as "the ultimate heir" because it's the last resort.