What is the order of inheritance under Ontario's intestacy rules?

Ontario's Succession Law Reform Act sets out a clear hierarchy of who inherits when there is no will. The order is as follows: a surviving spouse and children are the primary heirs (with the spouse receiving a preferential share first, then sharing any remainder with the children). If there is no spouse and no children, the estate passes to the deceased's parents equally. If no parents survive, siblings inherit equally.

If no siblings survive, the estate passes to the next of kin — typically nieces and nephews, then aunts and uncles, then cousins. The law traces relationship through degrees of kinship, with closer relatives always preferred over more distant ones. In each level of the hierarchy, if someone in that tier predeceased the deceased but left descendants, those descendants take the share by representation.

If no eligible relative can be found anywhere in this hierarchy, the estate escheats to the Province of Ontario. Friends, charities, unmarried partners, and stepchildren have no place in this hierarchy and receive nothing — only a valid will can direct assets to them.