The court will split the estate up among the child lines.  What this means can best be shown be some examples.  If there are three children then each child gets 1/3.  If there were three children but one died then the remaining two children take as if there had only been two children i.e. 1/2 each.  In other situations it can get more complex so for the following example assume that X and Y are the dead parents and the court found that they had $3,000 and that A, B and C are the children of Y and X.  If C died before X and Y but C had two children of his own then X and Y’s assets would be divided up as follows. A would get 1/3 ($1,000) and B would get 1/3 ($1,000).  C’s share would NOT go to A or B but rather to the children of C so C’s 1/3 portion would be divided evenly to C’s two children ($500 to each child of C).  There are several different situations that can involve many different twists and turns so it is best to call the hotline on this topic.