If someone dies intestate, they have died without leaving a will: no signed paper that says who should get their house, money, and things. You will hear it about the person (he died intestate) and, in law talk, about that state of having no will. It is a formal, legal word; ordinary families more often say “he never made a will.” Though actually, dying intestate does not mean the things vanish, or that the government always takes everything. Each place has rules that then decide who is next in line — often a husband, wife, or children — and that may not match what the person would have wanted. That is why lawyers push people to write a will. In law you may also meet intestate as a noun for a person who died this way, but learners almost always meet the describing use.

未立遺囑的