What happens to a bank account when someone dies without a beneficiary?

If a person dies without a beneficiary designated for their bank account, the funds in the account will generally become part of their estate and will be subject to the probate process. We discuss the Probate Process in detail in other articles. Briefly, probate is the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person, which includes identifying and collecting the person's assets, paying any outstanding debts and taxes, and distributing the remaining assets to the heirs or beneficiaries according to the terms of the person's will or the laws of intestate succession.

If the deceased person had a will, the will may specify how the funds in the bank account should be distributed. If the deceased person did not have a will, the funds will be distributed according to the laws of intestate succession, which dictate the order of priority for heirs.