In re Estate of Brunel

This case comes before us in an interlocutory transfer without ruling from the Merrimack County Probate Court (Cushing, J.), pursuant to RSA 547:30, transferring the following question:

“In the absence of express provision for distribution to second cousins under RSA 561:1, are second cousins of an intestate decedent entitled to legal recognition as ‘heirs’ of the decedent, so as to defeat the terms of RSA 561:8 providing for escheat to the State ‘[i]f there be no heir’?”

Implicit in this question is an additional question: if escheat is defeated, can the second cousins, assuming they are the…