That depends on what stage you were at. No it doesn't. If a person owns property (in this case, equity), that property passes to his estate when he dies. If

That depends on what stage you were at. No it doesn't. If a person owns property (in this case, equity), that property passes to his estate when he dies. If you both had an idea to 'do search' and had only got as far as picking a name. Then after another 10years of work by you alone you are ready to take on Google, does your late partner's partner get half? And if someone has written most or all of the code for a startup and then he dies, do you think it's ethical to restart the company and act as if the guy never existed?