Probate

Only if the beneficiary to the plan is the estate. If the beneficiary is a person and not the estate, the asset passes to the person. It may still be subject to the decedent's debts, however, unless it is exempt such as in Texas. Of course, the bank would have to know about it to pursue collection.

If the person left a Will the Will will identify who the administrator (executor) of the estate is to be - only this person can anministor the estate. If there is no Will then the state will appoint an administrator (there will be country specific laws relating to how this happens).

You fill out an application at the probate court. If there are no objections, the court will grant letters of authority.

* It depends on how your husband's parents left the will. In most cases when an inheritance is left to the husband and he passes on then any monies or property is merged into what your husbands financial status is and would go to the wife.

No. Property owned by virtue of a survivorship deed passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant on the deed, bypassing probate. Upon the death of that surviving joint tenant, the property would pass to their estate and would be distributed under the terms if their will or according to the state laws of intestacy if there is no will.

No. Property owned by virtue of a survivorship deed passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant on the deed, bypassing probate. Upon the death of that surviving joint tenant, the property would pass to their estate and would be distributed under the terms if their will or according to the state laws of intestacy if there is no will.

No. Property owned by virtue of a survivorship deed passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant on the deed, bypassing probate. Upon the death of that surviving joint tenant, the property would pass to their estate and would be distributed under the terms if their will or according to the state laws of intestacy if there is no will.

No. Property owned by virtue of a survivorship deed passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant on the deed, bypassing probate. Upon the death of that surviving joint tenant, the property would pass to their estate and would be distributed under the terms if their will or according to the state laws of intestacy if there is no will.

In New Jersey, Yes, but I assume the sibling is a beneficiary. If not then the sibling cannot force anything because she has no interest, what we call standing, to sue. After 1 year a beneficiary can sue to get an intermediate accounting to show everyone and the probate court what has been done so far. You can also sue the executrix to have her removed and to forfeit her commissions. There is no law that says an estate must be completed within a certain time frame. In fact generally for the first year no one can sue the executor to force anything unless there is special cause to do so. But 3 years is a long time and you should definitely get at least the intermediate accounting. The 3 years is not, in and of itself, grounds to remove the executrix. But is is grounds to file a lawsuit asking for that and that should give her a jolt. This answer is given for informational purposes and is not to be taken as legal advice.

Yes. It is common for a beneficiary to be also named the executor.

The contents of a Will remain private until the death of the testator so the person who is named as executor may not be known until the Will is read. As the role of an executor is merely to distribute the assets of the deceased in accordance with the terms of the Will of the deceased, an executor will have no say in how the Will is prepared or to whom the assets should be distributed. Therefore, there is no legal reason why an executor should not be named as a beneficiary in a Will. In fact it is quite often preferable for a family member (and beneficiary) to act in the role of executor.

That arrangement is frequently used in wills executed by husband and wife or life partners where each leaves the entire estate to the other and names the other as the executor.

No. In order to protect the trust property from claims the beneficiary should not be their own trustee. That type of scheme makes the trust vulnerable to creditors and also makes a trust invalid in most jurisdictions.

This can vary based upon the conditions of the trust fund and the procedures of the lending agency. In general, for all but the most pressing of emergencies, such is a bad idea.

Consult with the firm that manages the trust. They will have more specific information for you.

It is called the age of majority. In most places it is set at 18, but can be as high as 21 depending on the state or country. Until then an individual is not considered an adult and cannot enter into contracts.

The wording of the will shall specify. If there is no will, the intestacy laws will apply.

It is not a requirement in most cases. The state may require a bond for the executor.

Generally, all children have the same rights, whether born within wedlock or not. The issue may be one of proving your status as a child of the mother, but you are an equal to the "legitimate" child. The terms "illigitimate" and "legitimate" children are no longer in use, by the way.

The short answer is "no." In most (if not all) US states, a lawyer is not required to draft a will. The rest of this is my opinion: If the will is not a complicated one, doing it yourself is not very hard. If the difficulty is higher, you may wish to still do it yourself, but it will take some time. If the will is complicated, find a competent estate planner and estate lawyer. If you don't know all of your state's verbiage that needs to be included in the will that you want to draft, get a lawyer. If you are willing to take the time to learn the verbiage that must be included, there are resources to help. If you don't know how you would like to make it work, or do not know the best way to protect the most stuff, find a competent estate planner. Once again, if you are willing to take the time to learn how to do it, there are resources to help. I would recommend to not go to a lawyer to learn how to structure the will, nor would I go to an estate planner to get the will's verbiage. It is the lawyer's job to make sure the will holds up in court, should it be challenged. It is the estate planner's job to make sure the money and assets go where you want them to. It is both the lawyer's and the estate planner's job to make their employer money. In some instances, they can save you money and heartache.

Yes. The will must be examined by the court to confirm its validity and the executor must be appointed by the court. Real estate and property owned solely by the decedent must be probated in order for title to pass to the beneficiaries. The debts of the decedent are paid first.

The executor has no legal right to live there rent-free, but this will depend on the probate laws of the state of probate. It is a tricky practical question because there are benefits and detriments to having the executor live in the house rent free.

Begin with the idea that an executor entitled to complete possession of all estate property during administration but is not allowed to use estate property for personal gain Also, executors must use assets of the estate to reasonably maximize income prior to distribution. Taking those at face value the answer is that the executor has no right to live there rent-free. Living rent-free is using estate assets for personal gain and not earning income. Theoretically it could be rented short term to someone other than the executor and the house would earn income. But renting houses on a short term basis is not recommended and usually not done because tenants may refuse to leave and have to be evicted through the courts. Or they may damage the house.

In the real world though it sometimes happens because there are benefits to having someone in the house rather than leaving it vacant. A vacant house costs more to insure than a house with a resident, so the estate saves on insurance. Another benefit is prevention of possible damage in case a fire starts or pipes freeze or vandalism occurs or contents are stolen or even if squatters break in. A person living there would be able to prevent serious damage.

The problem with those benefits is that aside from the extra cost of insurance, they cannot be quantified to see if they are worth more than not renting the place out. For this reason, it is generally held that an executor has no inherent right to live in the estate house rent-free. But the alternative is to pay higher insurance rates and perhaps pay to board up the house. Either way the estate will incur some expense to preserve the house. For this reason, everyone usually gets together and agrees on some compromise.

The executor might be the spouse of the deceased, and the property might be the house in which the executor lived prior to death - back to the question of practicalities

That is one of the responsibility of the executor, to liquidate the assets of the estate and divide them according to his/her interpretation of the intention of the will. The executor need not ask permission of any other siblings so long as the results are anything near the original intent of the will. The executor is required to provide a full inventory and accounting to the probate court as part of the final settlement.

The easiest answer is to contact a probate attorney in your area. Otherwise, you can go to the county courthouse and ask the clerk for forms. They cannot provide legal advice though, so your best contacting an attorney to handle this. There are a lot of deadlines and specific procedures that must be followed.

In general, next of kin is determined by the closeness of the degree of kinship one person is to another. Look at it as the usual family tree. For example, a child is one degree removed from the parent while a grandchild is two degrees removed and so on down the line of descendants. A parent is one degree removed from a child while a grandparent is two degrees removed and so on up the line of ascendants. Siblings are two degrees removed; one degree up to the parent and one degree down to the child from the parent. (One degree up and one down.) All states have statutes the specify the exact process and some may have minor variations. For legal matters like inheritance, usually, "next of kin", means descendants first before ascendants. So, generally, even though a child and a parent of the same person are the same one degree apart, the child is considered next of kin over the parent.

Yes, and they frequently are as in the case of the standard husband and wife will, where each spouse leaves the entire estate to the other spouse and names that spouse the executor.