Nebraska Intestate Succession

Nebraska answers the no-will question in four lines of statute. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2302 gives a surviving spouse the entire intestate estate where no issue and no parent survives. Where a parent survives, or where every surviving child is also the spouse's child, the spouse takes the first $150,000 plus one-half of the balance. Where any surviving child is not the spouse's child, the spouse takes a flat one-half and nothing before it.

That $150,000 is the number to check first, because it is new. Laws 2026, LB838, section 15 raised it from $100,000 for deaths on or after July 18, 2026, and page-one search results for Nebraska intestacy still print the old figure. Some print a first-dollar amount of $10,000, which appears nowhere in the section's recorded history: the amount ran $50,000 until 2009, then $100,000, and now $150,000.

Three other Nebraska rules catch people who read a generic summary first. The first-dollar amount disappears in a blended family instead of shrinking. Nebraska sets no cutoff on how distant an heir may be, so a second or third cousin can inherit. And half blood inherits exactly what whole blood inherits.

Every rule below was read on September 10, 2026 at the Nebraska Legislature's own statute pages, the official publisher of the Nebraska Revised Statutes. Each section's amendment history was read at the same time, along with the operative date the Legislature prints beneath it. Section numbers sit beside each rule so you can check them yourself.

This page answers the distribution question, meaning who gets what. For how a Nebraska estate is opened, administered and closed, read the Nebraska probate process.

What Nebraska Intestacy Reaches

Dying without a will is called dying intestate. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2301 passes any part of an estate not effectively disposed of by will to the heirs named in the sections that follow. Partial intestacy is common: a will that gives away the house and says nothing about the farm ground leaves the farm ground to these rules.

Ownership moves before the court does anything. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2401 devolves real and personal property to the heirs at the moment of death, subject to the homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance, to creditors, to the surviving spouse's elective share, and to administration. The county court proceeding confirms and clears a title the statute already moved.

Nebraska law reaches further than Nebraska residents. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2210 applies the Nebraska Probate Code to the affairs and estates of people domiciled in Nebraska, to the property of nonresidents located in Nebraska, and to survivorship and related accounts in Nebraska. Out-of-state families holding Nebraska farmland or mineral interests land inside that second clause.

A Nebraska will can shut an heir out without leaving them anything

This is new law and it changes a familiar answer. Laws 2026, LB838, section 14 added subsection (2) to Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2301, which lets a will expressly exclude or limit the right of an individual or a class to succeed to property passing by intestate succession. If that person survives, their intestate share passes as though they had disclaimed it.

Before that subsection, a Nebraska will that said "my son takes nothing" and then failed to dispose of part of the estate still let the son take his intestate share of the part the will missed. A negative bequest now does the work on its own.

Two relatives can take an intestate share out of a valid will

The shares below are not only for estates with no will. Two Nebraska sections hand a living relative the intestate share out of a fully valid, fully probated will, and both turn on timing.

A spouse the will predates. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2320 says that where a testator makes no provision by will for a surviving spouse who married the testator after the will was executed, that spouse receives the same share of the estate the spouse would have received if the person had left no will. The devises in the will abate under Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-24,100 to fund it. A waiver under Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2316 is the way out. So a will signed in 2008 and never revised, followed by a marriage in 2019, sends the new spouse to the table on this page rather than to the will.

A child born or adopted after the will. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2321 gives an omitted child the share the child would have received had the testator died intestate, subject to three exceptions: the will shows the omission was intentional, the testator already had children when the will was executed and devised substantially all of the estate to the omitted child's other parent, or the testator provided for the child outside the will in an amount at least equal to the intestate share. Subsection (b) adds a fourth situation running the other way: a living child left out only because the testator believed the child was dead takes the intestate share.

Neither section makes the estate intestate. It stays a will estate, and the shares on this page supply the size of one person's slice.

Property that names its own taker never reaches these rules

Anything already pointed at a living recipient passes outside the intestate estate:

• real estate under a transfer-on-death deed that was recorded before the death (Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-3405 and 76-3410)
• a vehicle or motorboat titled in transfer-on-death form (Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2715.01)
• a bank account with a payable-on-death designation, or a multiple-party account with right of survivorship (Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2723)
• life insurance and retirement accounts with a surviving named beneficiary
• property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship
• anything already titled in a trust

The transfer-on-death deed carries a recording rule worth checking before anyone assumes the land is handled. Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-3410(a)(4) requires the deed to be recorded within thirty days after it was executed, before the transferor's death, and in the register of deeds office of the county where the property sits. A signed deed sitting in a drawer meets none of those, and a deed recorded two months after signing misses the first. Where a deed does not carry the land, the property stays in the estate and divides under the shares below, so put a deed with a recording problem in front of a Nebraska lawyer rather than assuming either result.

One line in Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2723 decides a lot of Nebraska bank disputes. Sums in a single-party account with no payable-on-death designation, or in a multiple-party account that the account terms say carries no right of survivorship, are not affected by the death and pass as part of the estate. The same subsection makes a payable-on-death designation ineffective in a multiple-party account without right of survivorship, and treats an account designated as a tenancy in common as an account without survivorship. Read the signature card before assuming the money is already handled.

Passing outside probate does not mean passing free of claims

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2726 pulls survivorship and payable-on-death money back where the rest of the estate cannot cover claims, the statutory allowances to the surviving spouse and children, taxes and the expenses of administration. A surviving party or beneficiary who took payment after the death has to account to the personal representative for a proportionate share.

Two limits ride with that. The personal representative has to receive a written demand from the surviving spouse, a creditor, a child, or someone acting for a child before the proceeding starts, and the proceeding has to begin within one year after the death.

Three Allowances Come Off The Top First

Nebraska hands a surviving spouse three separate amounts before the intestate shares are computed, and each one is in addition to the intestate share rather than counted against it.

Each amount is keyed to the date of death, not to the date the estate is opened, and Laws 2026, LB838 added the 2027 figures to all three sections.

Read the "before January 1, 2027" column as starting on January 1, 2011. Each of the three sections still prints a lower tier for a death before that date, and that tier is live law for anyone opening an old estate under the exception in Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2408, which is how family land sometimes reaches a court decades after the death.

Exempt property is measured in household furniture, automobiles, furnishings, appliances and personal effects, above any security interest in them, and Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2323(2) lets the spouse or children reach other estate assets to make up a shortfall.

Where no spouse survives, the homestead allowance divides among the minor and dependent children, and exempt property goes to the children jointly. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2323 takes exempt property away from a child the will disinherits, and it defines disinherited narrowly: the will has to give that child nothing, or a nominal amount of ten dollars or less.

One sentence at the end of Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2325 settles a question families ask often. The three allowances vest in the surviving spouse as of the date of death as a vested indefeasible right, survive as an asset of the spouse's own estate if they are still unpaid when the spouse dies, and do not end on the spouse's death or remarriage.

The Surviving Spouse's Share

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2302 runs four branches. Read them in order and stop at the first one that fits the family.

Work the numbers on a $600,000 intestate estate, measured after debts and the three allowances. A wife survives with two children of the marriage. Subsection (3) gives her $150,000 plus half of the remaining $450,000, so $375,000, and the two children divide $225,000.

Now change one fact. One of the two children is the husband's child from an earlier marriage. Subsection (4) applies, the first-dollar amount disappears, and the wife takes $300,000. The two children divide $300,000. The stepchild relationship costs the surviving spouse $75,000 and moves nothing else.

The blended-family branch has no first-dollar amount

Subsection (4) is the sentence summaries get wrong most often, because writers reach for the familiar shape of "the first amount, plus a fraction" and assume it repeats in every branch. It does not repeat. Where any surviving child of the person who died is not also a child of the surviving spouse, the statute gives the spouse one-half of the intestate estate and stops.

The test looks at the children of the person who died, not at the length of the marriage and not at who raised whom. A stepchild the spouse raised from infancy but never adopted is not the spouse's issue for this branch. An adult child of the person who died from a marriage that ended forty years ago is.

Why the $150,000 is newer than almost everything written about it

Laws 2026, LB838 rewrote five sections of Nebraska's intestacy and allowance rules at once: section 14 added the negative-will rule to Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2301, section 15 raised the spousal figure in Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2302, and sections 16, 17 and 18 reset the three allowances above.

The date those changes took hold is not printed as a date in the bill. Section 40 of the act says the sections listed there "become operative three calendar months after the adjournment of this legislative session," which is a rule rather than a calendar entry. The Legislature resolves it for you: read Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2302 at the Legislature's own page and a line reading "Operative Date: July 18, 2026" sits directly under the amendment history. The same line appears on 30-2301, 30-2322, 30-2323 and 30-2325. It does not appear on 30-2303, which LB838 left alone, so the line is a reliable marker of which sections moved.

Two consequences follow. The figure is keyed to the date of death, so an estate opened in 2027 for a death in March 2026 still runs on $100,000. And arithmetic from the April adjournment lands one day earlier than the published date, so a death on July 17 or July 18, 2026 is worth putting to a Nebraska lawyer before anyone divides anything.

The spouse's intestate share is a different question from what a spouse can claim against a will. For that, read what the surviving spouse takes, which covers the elective share and the deadline that goes with it. To see the shares this statute produces for one particular family rather than in the abstract, run the facts through the Nebraska inheritance calculator.

How The Rest Of The Estate Divides

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2303 takes whatever the spouse does not take, or the whole estate where no spouse survives, and sends it down a five-step ladder.

1. To the issue of the person who died. Where they are all of the same degree of kinship they take equally; where they are of unequal degree, those further out take by representation.
2. Where no issue survives, to the parent or parents equally.
3. Where no issue or parent survives, to the issue of the parents by representation. That reaches brothers and sisters, then nieces and nephews.
4. Where none of the above survives but a grandparent or a grandparent's issue does, half passes to the paternal side and half to the maternal side, each half following the same pattern. Where one side has nobody, the whole estate passes to the other side.
5. Where none of the above survives, to the next of kin in equal degree, with relatives claiming through the nearest ancestor preferred over relatives claiming through a more remote one.

Representation splits at the nearest surviving generation

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2306 divides the estate into as many shares as there are surviving heirs in the nearest degree of kinship, plus deceased people in that same degree who left issue who survived. Each survivor in the nearest degree takes one share, and each deceased person's share divides among that person's own issue the same way.

Here is the part that surprises families. Step 1 of Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2303 calls for representation only where the issue are of unequal degree. Where every survivor sits at the same generation, they take equally, and the branches stop mattering.

Compare two estates, each left by a widow with three children. In the first, one son survives and two daughters died leaving issue. The estate splits three ways at the children's generation. The son takes one-third, the only child of the first daughter takes her mother's whole one-third, and the three children of the second daughter divide their mother's one-third at one-ninth each.

In the second estate all three children died before their mother, leaving one, one and three surviving children of their own. Every survivor is a grandchild, so all five sit at the same degree and each takes one-fifth. A per-stirpes assumption would have handed the two only children one-third apiece. Same family shape, different answer, and the difference is whether anyone at the children's generation is still alive.

Nebraska Never Stops Looking For An Heir

Many states cut off intestate succession at a fixed degree, or at the issue of grandparents, and send the rest to the state. Nebraska does not. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2303(5) sends the estate to the next of kin in equal degree with no stated limit, so a second cousin and a third cousin remain in line.

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2305 then says that if there is no taker under the article at all, the intestate estate passes to the state. Because step 5 has no cutoff, that outcome asks the estate to prove that no next of kin exists in any degree, which is why escheat in Nebraska is uncommon rather than routine.

Nebraska also inserts no intermediate class before the state. Some neighbouring states pass an unclaimed estate to the heirs of a predeceased spouse first. Nebraska has no such step.

Who Counts As A Child

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2309 settles parent and child relationships for intestate succession, and it runs two rules.

Adoption. An adopted person is the child of the adopting parent and not of the natural parents. The exception is narrow and worth reading twice: adoption by the spouse of a natural parent has no effect on the relationship between the child and that natural parent. A stepparent adoption preserves the child's line to the natural parent married to the adopting stepparent, and to that parent only.

Children born outside marriage. The person is a child of the mother. The person is also a child of the father where the natural parents went through a marriage ceremony before or after the birth even though the attempted marriage was void, or where paternity was established by an adjudication before the father's death, or established afterward by strict, clear and convincing proof. Open cohabitation of the mother and the alleged father during the period of conception is admissible as evidence of paternity.

The last sentence of that subsection runs one way only. Paternity established after the father's death does not qualify the father or his kindred to inherit from or through the child unless the father openly treated the child as his and did not refuse to support the child. A father's family cannot establish paternity after the fact purely to claim a share.

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2308 adds afterborn heirs: a relative conceived before the death but born after it inherits as though born during the lifetime of the person who died.

The 120-Hour Rule, And The One Case Where It Is Switched Off

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2304 treats a person who fails to survive by one hundred twenty hours as having predeceased, for homestead allowance, exempt property and intestate succession alike. Where the time of either death cannot be determined and survival by 120 hours cannot be established, the statute deems the person to have failed the test.

The carve-out is the part generic summaries drop. The section is not applied where applying it would result in the intestate estate being taken by the state under Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2305. A distant heir who died four days after the person who died still inherits where treating that heir as predeceased would empty the estate into the state treasury.

Half Blood Inherits The Same Share As Whole Blood

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2307 is two sentences and answers a question that costs families real money. Degrees of kindred are computed according to the rule of the civil law, and relatives of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood.

A half-blood exclusion is one of the most commonly copied wrong rules between states, because several states do reduce the half-blood share or carve out property that came from an ancestor the two relatives did not share. Nebraska carries neither rule. A half brother and a full brother stand in the same place.

Citizenship Does Not Bar An Heir, But An Heir Living Abroad Faces A Test

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2312 states the rule and its two exceptions in one sentence. No person is disqualified to take as an heir because that person, or a person through whom that person claims, is or has been an alien, except as provided in Neb. Rev. Stat. 4-107 and under the Foreign-owned Real Estate National Security Act. So citizenship on its own decides nothing under the shares above.

The first exception is the one families run into, and it is easy to underread. Neb. Rev. Stat. 4-107 reaches a nonresident alien taking real or personal property, or the proceeds of either, by succession or testamentary disposition, and it makes that right conditional. The country where the heir lives has to give United States citizens a reciprocal right to take property there on the same terms, United States citizens have to be able to receive money from estates in that country inside the United States, and the heir has to be able to receive the benefit, use or control of the property without confiscation by that government. The burden of establishing reciprocity sits on the heir.

The consequence of failing that test is a clock rather than an immediate loss. The property goes to the State Treasurer and is held for five years from the date of death while the heir may show they have become eligible. If nobody makes that showing, the heir's rights are barred, and for one year after that any other person who would have taken under Nebraska intestacy had the heir predeceased may petition the district court of Lancaster County. Six years after the death with no petition, the property is disposed of as escheated property.

Laws 2024, LB1301 is what added the second exception, and it is narrower. It reaches real estate and specified foreign principals rather than heirs as a class, and Neb. Rev. Stat. 4-107(1)(d) says that where a nonresident alien does not comply with that act, the act controls the transfer and disposition of any of the property that is agricultural land. Nebraska farm ground passing to an heir living abroad is the case that needs a Nebraska lawyer, and it needs one early.

Divorce, And Three People Who Are Not A Surviving Spouse

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2353 says a person divorced from the person who died, or whose marriage was dissolved or annulled by a decree that has become final, is not a surviving spouse unless a later marriage put them back together at the time of death. A decree of separation that does not end the marriage is not a divorce for this purpose.

Subsection (b) then removes three more people from the definition, and each one shows up in real estates. Someone who obtained or consented to a divorce or annulment decree that Nebraska does not treat as valid, unless the couple later went through a marriage ceremony or lived together as husband and wife. Someone who went through a marriage ceremony with a third person after an invalid decree obtained by the person who died. And someone who was party to a valid proceeding concluded by an order purporting to end all marital property rights against the person who died.

The Slayer Rule Does Not Wait For A Conviction

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2354 bars a surviving spouse, heir or devisee who feloniously and intentionally kills, or aids and abets the killing of, the person who died. The estate passes as though the killer had predeceased.

Nebraska sets two independent triggers, and the second one matters where a prosecution stalls. A final judgment of conviction is conclusive. Where there is no conviction, the court may determine by a preponderance of the evidence whether the killing or the aiding and abetting was felonious and intentional. States that demand a conviction leave a family with no route in that situation. Nebraska keeps one open.

The section reaches past the probate estate. It severs a joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety so the decedent's share passes as their own property, cancels the killer's rights under a bond, life insurance policy or other contract, and treats a transfer-on-death deed as though the designated beneficiary had predeceased the transferor. A buyer who took the property for value and without notice before the rights were adjudicated is protected, and the killer is liable for the proceeds or the value instead.

A Lifetime Gift Counts Only If Somebody Wrote It Down

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2310 treats a lifetime gift to an heir as an advancement against that heir's share only where the person who died declared it an advancement in a contemporaneous writing, or the heir acknowledged it in writing. An oral understanding, a family memory and a pattern of unequal gifts all count for nothing here.

The section carries a second limit that is easy to read past, and it interacts with the partial-intestacy point above. Section 30-2310 opens with the words "if a person dies intestate as to all his estate." Where a will disposes of part of the estate and misses the rest, the person did not die intestate as to all of it, so this section does not reach the gift at all. A family arguing about an advancement should establish which of the two situations they are in before arguing about the gift.

Where the writing exists, the property is valued as of the time the heir came into possession or enjoyment, or as of the death, whichever comes first. Where the recipient dies before the person who made the gift, the advancement is not charged against the recipient's issue unless the writing says so.

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2311 runs the same logic for money owed the other way. A debt owed to the person who died is charged against the debtor's share alone, and where the debtor dies first the debt is not charged against the debtor's issue.

Turning Down A Nebraska Inheritance

An heir who does not want a share can renounce it. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2352 lets an heir, a devisee, a surviving joint owner, an insurance beneficiary or a designated beneficiary of a transfer-on-death deed renounce in whole, in part, or as to specific assets, by a written instrument that describes the property, declares the renunciation and its extent, states that it is an irrevocable and unqualified refusal to accept, and is signed and acknowledged the way a deed of real estate is.

The deadline carries a tax consequence rather than a probate one. To work for Nebraska inheritance and estate taxes, the instrument has to reach the transferor, the personal representative, the trustee or the title holder within nine months after the later of the transfer that created the interest and the renouncing person's twenty-first birthday. The instrument also gets filed in the county court where the estate is pending, and a renunciation of real estate gets recorded with the register of deeds in the county where the land sits.

Renouncing does not let anyone steer the property. The interest passes as though the person renouncing had predeceased, and the person renouncing has no power to direct where it goes. Whoever receives it will owe Nebraska inheritance tax at the rate set for their own relationship to the person who died, which can be higher than the rate the person who renounced would have paid.

Getting An Intestate Nebraska Estate Settled

The statutes name the heirs. Somebody still has to collect the property and hand it over.

Nebraska probate runs in the county court in all 93 counties. Neb. Rev. Stat. 24-517(1) gives each county court exclusive original jurisdiction of all matters relating to decedents' estates, so there is no separate probate court and no county-by-county split of the forum. With no will there is no nominated executor, so the court appoints a personal representative. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2412 ranks who may ask: a person with priority under a probated will, then a surviving spouse who is a devisee, then other devisees, then the surviving spouse, then other heirs, and then any creditor once forty-five days have passed since the death. Anyone aged eighteen or over who is entitled to letters may nominate somebody else to serve, and nobody under nineteen qualifies.

There is an outer deadline. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2408 bars an informal or formal probate or appointment proceeding commenced more than three years after the death, with four exceptions. One of those exceptions matters for old family land: a proceeding may still begin after three years where no probate, succession or administration proceeding happened inside the window, though claims other than administration expenses can no longer be presented. The same section keeps proceedings to determine the heirs of an intestate outside the three-year limit entirely.

Three shorter routes, and only one of them is a court proceeding

Not every intestate Nebraska estate needs a full administration. Three routes exist, they measure different things, and two of them share a dollar figure without being the same test.

Personal property by affidavit, Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-24,125. Thirty days after the death, a successor may collect personal property on a sworn affidavit stating that the value of all personal property in the estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000, and that no personal representative has been appointed or applied for anywhere. Transferring a vehicle, motorboat, all-terrain vehicle, utility-type vehicle or minibike takes a further affidavit filed with the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Real property by affidavit, Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-24,129. Thirty days after the death, successors may file an affidavit with the register of deeds in the county where the land sits, stating that the value of the decedent's interest in all Nebraska real property does not exceed $100,000. That value comes from the assessment rolls for the year of death, less real estate taxes and interest due at the death, rather than from market value. This is a recording, not a court filing.

Summary administrative procedure, Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-24,127. This route carries no dollar figure at all. It compares the whole estate, less liens and encumbrances, against the homestead allowance, exempt property, family allowance, costs and expenses of administration, reasonable funeral expenses and the reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness. Where the estate does not exceed that total, an appointed personal representative may distribute without notice to creditors and file a closing statement. It needs an appointment and an inventory first, so it is a shortcut through administration rather than around it.

If you are reading this because you would rather choose the outcome than accept the statute's answer, Nebraska will requirements covers who may make a will, signing, witnesses and what makes a Nebraska will hold up.

When To Talk To A Nebraska Lawyer

Many Nebraska intestate estates divide straight off Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2302. Bring in a licensed Nebraska attorney when:

• the death falls on July 17 or July 18, 2026, on either side of the change from $100,000 to $150,000
• a surviving child of the person who died is not a child of the surviving spouse, so subsection (4) decides the share
• no issue, parent, sibling or grandparent survives and the search has moved out to cousins under step 5
• a will was signed before the marriage, or before a child was born or adopted, so Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2320 or 30-2321 may hand someone the intestate share out of a valid will
• paternity was never adjudicated during the father's lifetime
• an adoption sits anywhere in the line, including a stepparent adoption
• two family members died within five days of each other
• a homicide charge is pending, or a prosecution ended without a conviction, against someone in line to inherit
• the estate holds Nebraska land and the person who died lived in another state
• an heir lives outside the United States, and especially where the estate holds agricultural land
• a transfer-on-death deed was signed but recorded late, or never recorded
• a lifetime gift is claimed as an advancement and the writing is missing or ambiguous

This page organizes the statutory shares and the questions worth asking. Confirm anything that decides a particular estate with the county court handling it or with a licensed Nebraska attorney.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who inherits if there is no will in Nebraska?

Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2302 pays the surviving spouse first. The spouse takes the whole intestate estate when no issue and no parent of the person who died survives. The spouse takes the first $150,000 plus one-half of the balance when a parent survives, or when every surviving child is also the spouse's child. The spouse takes a flat one-half when any surviving child is not the spouse's child. Whatever the spouse does not take passes under Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2303, first to the children and their issue, then to parents, then to brothers and sisters and their issue, then to grandparents and their issue, and then to the next of kin.

Is the Nebraska spouse share $100,000 or $150,000?

It is $150,000 for a death on or after the operative date of Laws 2026, LB838, section 15, which raised the figure from $100,000. The Governor approved LB838 on April 14, 2026 and section 40 of the act made the change operative three calendar months after the session adjourned, which put it in force in July 2026. Almost every article, calculator and firm page still prints $100,000, and some still print figures that are decades old. For a death in the days around the changeover, confirm the operative date with a Nebraska lawyer before dividing anything.

Does a Nebraska surviving spouse always get $150,000 off the top?

No. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2302(4) drops the first-dollar amount entirely when one or more surviving children of the person who died are not also children of the surviving spouse. In that family the spouse takes one-half of the intestate estate and nothing before it. On a $600,000 intestate estate the difference between subsection (3) and subsection (4) is $75,000 to the spouse.

Do half brothers and half sisters inherit less in Nebraska?

No. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2307 says relatives of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood, and the same section computes degrees of kindred by the rule of the civil law. Nebraska carries no ancestral-property exclusion and no reduced half-blood share, so a half sibling stands in the same place as a full sibling.

Does Nebraska have a 120-hour survival rule?

Yes. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2304 a person who fails to survive by one hundred twenty hours is treated as having died first for the homestead allowance, exempt property and intestate succession, and the same result follows when the order of the deaths cannot be established. The section carries one carve-out that summaries drop: it is not applied where applying it would send the estate to the state under Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2305.

Can a remote cousin inherit in Nebraska?

Yes. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2303(5) sends the estate to the next of kin in equal degree once no issue, parent, issue of a parent, grandparent or issue of a grandparent survives, and it sets no degree limit. Where two or more collateral relatives sit in equal degree but claim through different ancestors, those claiming through the nearest ancestor are preferred. Nebraska has no cutoff at cousins, so escheat under Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2305 is rare.

Who is appointed when a Nebraska estate has no will?

The county court appoints a personal representative rather than an executor. Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2412 ranks the candidates: a person named in a probated will, then a surviving spouse who is a devisee, then other devisees, then the surviving spouse, then other heirs, and then any creditor once forty-five days have passed since the death. A person aged eighteen or over who is entitled to letters may nominate someone else, and a person under nineteen cannot serve.

Sources:

• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2302, Share of the spouse. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2302
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2301, Intestate estate; succession; modification by will. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2301
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2303, Share of heirs other than surviving spouse. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2303
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2304, Requirement that heir survive decedent for one hundred twenty hours. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2304
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2305, Escheat; no taker. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2305
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2306, Representation. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2306
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2307, Kindred of half blood. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2307
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2308, Afterborn heirs. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2308
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2309, Meaning of child and related terms. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2309
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2310, Advancements; method of determining. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2310
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2311, Debts to decedent; retainer. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2311
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2312, Alienage; conditions. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2312
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 4-107, Nonresident alien; property by succession or testamentary disposition; taking of property in this state; conditions; escheat; disposition of escheated property. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=4-107
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2320, Omitted spouse. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2320
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2321, Pretermitted children. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2321
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2401, Devolution of estate at death; restrictions. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2401
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 24-517, Jurisdiction. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=24-517
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2322, Homestead allowance. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2322
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2323, Exempt property. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2323
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2325, Source, determination, and documentation. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2325
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2352, Renunciation of succession. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2352
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2353, Effect of divorce, annulment, and decree of separation. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2353
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2354, Effect of homicide on intestate succession, wills, joint assets, life insurance, and beneficiary designations. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2354
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2210, Territorial application. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2210
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2408, Probate, testacy, and appointment proceedings; ultimate time limit. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2408
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2412, Priority among persons seeking appointment as personal representative. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2412
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2723, Rights at death. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2723
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2726, Rights of creditors and others. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2726
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2715.01, Vehicle or motorboat; transfer on death; certificate of title. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-2715.01
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-3405, Transfer on death deed authorized. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=76-3405
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-3410, Transfer on death deed; essential elements and formalities; warnings; limitation on action to set aside transfer. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=76-3410
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-24,125, Collection of personal property by affidavit. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-24,125
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-24,127, Small estates; summary administrative procedure. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-24,127
• Title: Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-24,129, Succession to real property by affidavit. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=30-24,129
• Title: LB838, One Hundred Ninth Legislature, Second Session, Final Reading. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Approved by the Governor April 14, 2026. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/FloorDocs/109/PDF/Final/LB838.pdf
• Title: LB35, One Hundred First Legislature, First Session, Final Reading, section 19 amending section 30-2302. Publisher: Nebraska Legislature. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/FloorDocs/101/PDF/Final/LB35.pdf

It is not legal advice.