Who Inherits My Home If I Don’t Have Children?

It’s a fact of life that, for many of us, the homes we live in will outlive us. Even if we are homeowners, we have possession of these homes for only a short time. Before we pass on, it’s important to make plans to decide where our home will go—otherwise, those plans will be made for us. 

For people with children, the question of who will inherit their home is typically (though not always) straightforward. Outside of spouses, children make for obvious heirs, especially if they are adults. 

For those without children, the answer is a bit trickier, but in short, your home will go to whomever you choose—but you need to do the legwork to make sure your estate plan is in order. Otherwise, state law will decide, and things can get messy. 

What happens if you die without a plan

If you die without a will, the state you live in decides who gets your house. This sounds simple, but it can be problematic depending on where you live and your extended family situation.

Every state has "intestacy laws" that kick in when someone dies without estate planning documents. For those without children, these laws often follow your family tree: Your surviving spouse inherits first, followed in order by your surviving children, parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, and eventually more distant cousins you may have never met. Can't find any living relatives? Your property goes to the state.

“If you die intestate with no descendants or spouse, the inheritance issue falls to your lineal heirs as defined by law,” says Shane Lucado, founder and CEO of legal tech platform InPerSuit. “The state doesn’t care about closeness or surrounding context, just the lineage. So in a $400,000 mortgage-free house, you could end up with your brother from Ohio inheriting it even if you haven’t talked in a decade.”

For child-free homeowners, this cookie-cutter approach rarely reflects reality. Maybe you're estranged from your siblings but close to your best friend of 20 years. Perhaps you'd rather support a cause you believe in than leave everything to a cousin you haven't spoken to since childhood. Or you might be in a committed relationship with an unmarried partner who has no legal claim under intestacy laws.

The good news? Creating a will puts you back in control.

A will is the most important document of all

Leaving your home to someone other than a spouse or child requires clear, legally binding documentation—and more planning than you might expect.

"Wills and trusts for childless individuals and couples differ in that they don't have the default 'natural beneficiaries' and decision makers,” says Evan Farr, certified elder law attorney at Farr Law Firm. “There are no special considerations these people should take—just more difficult decisions when they are trying to figure out who is going to act for them and who's going to inherit their estate.”

A will is your foundation. This legal document explicitly states who gets your house—whether that's your brother, your best friend, or a nonprofit organization. The key is specificity: Identify beneficiaries by full legal name and relationship to you, and describe the property with its full address and legal description when possible.

Your will must meet your state's requirements to be valid, which typically means you need to be of sound mind, sign it in front of witnesses, and in some states, have it notarized. Without these formalities, your carefully crafted wishes could be challenged or thrown out.

Trusts are also useful, depending on the circumstances

A revocable living trust is another option, despite the upfront work and cost to set one up. It helps you avoid probate by transferring your home's title into the trust while you're alive, then passing it directly to your beneficiaries when you die. But for childless homeowners, a trust may not be essential.

"Having a trust to avoid probate is not as important for people in this category because they don't care about making life simpler, which is one of the main reasons that people with children do a revocable living trust—to avoid probate to make things simpler for their children after death," Farr explains.

That said, trusts can still make sense in specific situations. If you're leaving your home to someone who might face family pushback—like an unmarried partner or a close friend instead of blood relatives—a trust offers faster transfer and privacy that can help avoid disputes. And if your estate is particularly complex or you have concerns about capacity down the road, the structure of a trust provides additional protections.

While not directly related to inheritance, two additional documents protect your property during your lifetime: a durable power of attorney for finances (allowing someone to manage your property if you're incapacitated) and a transfer-on-death deed, available in about half of the states as a simpler probate-avoidance tool that works like a beneficiary designation on your house.

Understand the tax implications, for you and others

If you decide to leave your home to special people in your life, be mindful of the tax implications of doing so—since it will most likely fall on them.  

“There are no tax implications for the individuals doing their estate planning, but there are potential inheritance tax issues for the beneficiaries,” says Farr. But what are those inheritance tax issues? It depends largely on where you live and who inherits your home.

Most estates won't owe federal estate tax. The 2025 exemption is $13.9 million, so only the wealthiest estates pay federal taxes. Spouses inherit tax-free thanks to the unlimited marital deduction, but everyone else gets the same high exemption.

State taxes are where it gets complicated. Twelve states plus Washington, DC, have estate taxes with lower thresholds. Six states have inheritance taxes paid by the beneficiary—and rates depend on your relationship to the deceased.

“Some states, such as Florida, do not tax inheritances. Other states do so for transfers to nonlineal heirs,” says Lucado. “For instance, in Pennsylvania, a $450,000 home passed to a niece would also have a 15% inheritance tax, or $67,500. This is before we even consider the title complications arising from a transfer without survivorship or trust.”

Good news: All beneficiaries get a "step-up in basis," resetting the home's value to its worth on your death date. If they sell soon after inheriting, they'll owe little to no capital gains tax. But if they hold the property and it appreciates, they'll owe capital gains on that growth when they sell.

In general, it’s best to work with a tax professional to understand your state's rules and help your beneficiaries prepare for what’s coming to them, from capital gains taxes to potentially higher annual property taxes.

With the right documentation, you have complete control over who inherits your home—regardless of your choice to have children or not. It's only when you don't complete your estate plan that things get complicated. Doing so now can prevent headaches for your intended beneficiaries and keep your home from ending up in completely different hands than you intended.