AI-assisted research summary: This section sets the order for distributing an intestate estate when there is no surviving spouse or when part of the estate does not pass to the surviving spouse.
45-2-103. Share of heirs other than surviving spouse. A. Any part of the intestate estate not passing to a decedent's surviving spouse pursuant to Section 45-2-102 NMSA 1978, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes in the following order to the individuals who survive the decedent: (1) to the decedent's descendants by representation; (2) if there is no surviving descendant, to the decedent's parents equally if both survive, or to the surviving parent if only one survives; (3) if there is no surviving descendant or parent, to the descendants of the decedent's parents or either of them by representation; (4) if there is no surviving descendant, parent or descendant of a parent, but the decedent is survived by one or more grandparents or descendants of grandparents, on both grandparents' sides: (a) half to the decedent's grandparents on one side equally if both survive, or to the survivor of them if only one survives, or to the descendants of the decedent's grandparents on this side or either of them if both are deceased, the descendants taking by representation; and (b) half to the decedent's grandparents on the other side equally if both survive, or to the survivor of them if only one survives, or to the descendants of the decedent's grandparents or either of them if both are deceased, the descendants taking by representation; and (5) if there is no surviving descendant parent, or descendant of a parent, but the decedent is survived by one or more grandparents or descendants of grandparents on one side but not the other side, to the decedent's relatives on the side with one or more surviving members in the manner described in Paragraph (4) of this subsection. B. If there is no taker under Subsection A of this section, but the decedent has: (1) one deceased spouse who has one or more descendants who survive the decedent, the estate or part thereof passes to that spouse's descendants by representation; or (2) more than one deceased spouse who has one or more descendants who survive the decedent, an equal share of the estate or part thereof passes to each set of descendants by representation. C. For purposes of Subsection B of this section, the term "deceased spouse" means an individual to whom the decedent was married at the individual's death, and does not include a spouse who was divorced from, or treated pursuant to Section 45-2-802 or Section 45-2-804 NMSA 1978 as divorced from, the decedent at the time of the decedent's death. History: 1953 Comp., § 32A-2-103, enacted by Laws 1975, ch. 257, § 2-103; 1977, ch. 121, § 3; repealed and reenacted by Laws 1993, ch. 174, § 6; 2011, ch. 124, § 10; 2017, ch. 41, § 14.