Tom and Nicole are married at $18$ and quickly have three children. Eventually, Tom and Nicole separate but never divorce and their children grow into adults and have their own families. Nicole passes at the age of $78$ after retiring from teaching in the School District of Philadelphia. At her death, she owned a home in East Oak Lane and left substantial assets. She never made a will.

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If you think this is an unusual situation, think again. Hundreds if not thousands of properties are passed down within families without the required paper work or deeds being recorded. In this situation, is Tom entitled to any portion of Nicole's estate, even if they haven't seen each other in more than $40$ years? If so$,$ what does he get?