Probate

If you are excluded from the WILL and you want to get points across and cant afford a lawyer can it be done ?!

Since a guardian must be appointed by a court, whoever is requesting for proof of guardianship would require a certified copy of the appointment. That can be easily obtained from the court that made the appointment. If I were working on a case and needed proof of guardianship I would require a certified copy of the appointment.

A "girlfriend" has no legal rights to her "boyfriend's" estate unless he left property to her in his will. Only a legal spouse or a partner in a legal civil union have rights of inheritance. You can check the laws of intestate (without a will) inheritance in your state at the related question link below.

The named executor or family can secure the property and must immediately file the will and commence the probate procedure. Until appointed by the court, an executor has no legal authority over the estate. If necessary, there is en expedited process by which a temporary executor can be appointed by the court until the executor can be appointed.

That document in that form is not valid as a will; however, don't give up yet just because of that. There is an outside chance that it could be admitted to probate under the lost will theory. You must see a probate lawyer on this one and find out about the specific laws in that state regarding lost wills. The lost will theory generally is that if an original document had been signed by the testator and the witnesses, but simply cannot be found, a court, upon certain very strict proofs, might admit the will to probate on the theory that it did exist at one time. Since you use the word "copy" I assume you mean a photocopy of an original document. Since the photocopy bears signatures of the witnesses, it is reasonable to conclude that at least the original will had been signed. The copy becomes evidence of the terms of the will. Some jurisdictions are more strict than others and some may not even permit it.

If you wish to sell it to them. You are not under any obligation to do so.

You should contact the state department of motor vehicles in your state for instructions. If there is no other property there should be an inexpensive and abbreviated probate process that can be used to transfer title to the next of kin.

It means you are "basically" your father in the sense that you are finishing up paying your bills, arranging your funeral etc. You are also the "boss" of his estate including dispersing any monies or property according to his will. If you are not sure about the "power of attorney" that is associated with this position, consult your father's attorney for more details. As Executor (in some states) the Excutor is allowed a small payment for their "services" if they so wish. The Executor has the power to sell anything that is not willed to someone but those monies must also then be included as part of the estate. You also will have to disconnect/cancel any car insurance(s), phone, gas etc, notify the Social Security and DMV of his death including getting all the death certificates for each, his credit cards, banking, home owners insurance and such. Each will require a death certificate. Usually the funeral homes can provide you as many of them as you might need.

Caveat emptor is the practice of a person buying a good being responsible for informing himself of the use and quality of said good. Beware of what you buy, is its meaning.

With insurance, it commonly refers to being careful of choosing an insurance that covers all instances you want to be insured for, at adequate financial levels. If you don't, and you find out you are not properly insured as a result, it's your own fault.

my cousin passed away in feb. 2012 and i need to know if his home and car are part of his estate? neither one of them are paid off. we have alot of medical bills and i have called a few and they ask if he has an estate. i dont know how to answer this question. his son who is 23 wants to live in the house, but his son was not on the loan for the house. will this have to be sold to pay medical bills. he also has a car that is in only my cousins name, will that need to be sold also. some lawyer told them that they needed to wait 6 months to do anything, but the son could continue to pay the house payment. i am so confused as what the right thing to do is. his house is only worth about 54 thousand, and the medical bills are about 35 thousand dollars at this time. there may be more to come.

At death, your will goes through probate. Probate simply means the process by which your last will is determined to be your final dispositive statement and which confirms the appointment of the person or institution you have named to administer your estate. The term "probate" is also used in the larger sense of probating your estate. In this sense, probate means the process by which assets are gathered, applied to pay debts, taxes and expenses of administration, and distributed to those designated as beneficiaries in the will.

You must probate the will in order to effectuate the transfer of assets in the decedent's name to the named beneficiaries and to have an executor appointed. It sometimes happens that a decedent has no assets in his/her name alone. Jointly held property will pass to the surviving joint owner. In such cases it is not uncommon for the will not to be probated.

If the will is not submitted to the court and the decedent owned property, the estate must be probated and decedent's assets will pass to his heirs at law according to state laws of intestate distribution rather than to the persons named in the will. In that case the court must appoint an administrator. If the court finds that any person withheld a will from probate there can be serious legal consequences as well as liability for damages suffered by any heir as result of the withholding of the will.

If a person dies owning real property, whether testate or intestate, the estate must be probated in order for title to pass to the heirs. The property cannot be sold or mortgaged until the title is legally established in the heirs through a probate procedure.

You must review the instrument that created the trust to determine how a successor trustee must be appointed.

A trust will never fail just because of a lack of a trustee. If the instrument itself does not provide for a determination of a successor trustee, the parties in interest, whether they are present or future beneficiaries or even legitimate creditors of the trust, may apply to the appropriate court for the appointment of such a trustee. The parties may request the appointment of some particular person or entity. The court will generally appoint the requested person but it is not bound by such a request if the suggested person is somehow inappropriate for appointment.

In the settling of the estate, the court appointed Administrator has all the power, by law. She has the authority and responsibility to settle the estate according to state law under the supervision of the court. The heir-at-law has no power. If the Administrator is not performing her duties the heirs can request she be replaced. However, one of the reasons the law provides for the appointment of an estate representative is to avoid disagreements among heirs and have one person in charge.

If you have an outstanding mortgage on your property at the time of your death the lender will take the property if the mortgage isn't paid. You can purchase some type of mortgage insurance or life insurance to pay off the mortgage in the event of your death. Otherwise, your heirs will need to pay it if they want to keep the property.

Probably, given the cited circumstances. Some life estates are "determinable" meaning it automatically ends upon the occurrence of a specific event, other than the death of the life tenant. There are also those which are "condition subsequent", meaning the land is granted for a specific purpose, such as farming. A life estate can also be given to the life tenant for the life of some other person (estate pur autre vie). One of the constants of a life estate is, the tenant(s) cannot squander the property and must pay all expenses, taxes, utilities an so forth, unless there is a directive that states otherwise. The biggest factor obviously would be, if the person is a named life tenant and therefore has occupancy rights.

Yes. The surviving spouse will inherit all or part of the estate under the state laws of intestacy. A legal separation has no effect on inheritance of the surviving spouse. Even if the decedent left a will naming a different beneficiary, the surviving spouse has a right of election. You can check the laws of intestacy in your state at the related question link provided below.

If you are the surviving spouse you should consult an attorney who can review your situation and explain your rights and options under your state law.

To find information on California probate laws, go to, or click on link below

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html

It will depend on the laws in the jurisdiction in question. If the sibling was born after the will was made, it may be a rule of law to add them.

Yes, there certainly is a limit. Typically the limitation is going to match that of normal debts. The laws may vary, but as long as the estate is open, a claim can be filed. Debtors also can make claims against the executor if they fail to do proper notification.

Yes. The executor can assign their rights to represent the estate by the appointment of an agent. That is frequently done when the deceased owned property in another state or when the appointed executor lives a distance from the court where the estate is filed.

90 days probation means in court that you get to go free but if you do something illegal within 90 days you go back to court and is a possibility you can go to jail depending on what you did hope this helped if not very sorry

==One Answer: Estate Planning== Yes, in a number of different ways. For example, if the deed is in joint tenants with right of survivorship, the title transfers automatically to the survivor. Or property can be owned by a trust, partnership, or corporation (among others) that obtains the property from one person and distributes it to another upon triggering by certain events (i.e., death).
==A Different Perspective== No. If a person died owning an interest in real estate that does NOT pass as jointly held property, the estate must be probated in order for the title to vest in the legal heirs. The heirs have no power to transfer the property until there is a settlement of the estate in the court of jurisdiction.

In some cases a testator sets up a trust in her will. That type of trust is called a testamentary trust. Some trusts can go on forever especially with a very wealthy testator who wants to maintain control over her estate even after death. In some cases a trust is established by the testator when there are devisees who are minors, spendthrifts or under some handicap. The trust is treated separately from the probate of the will. An executor is appointed to distribute the property according to the will. If a testamentary trust is set forth in the will, the named property goes to the trust and a trustee is appointed to administer the property according to the terms of the trust. The powers of the trustee are set forth in the will.

Yes. If you disagree you would need to file an objection to the court. There would be a hearing and the judge would decide if your objection was serious enough to stop the appointment. If so, another executor would be appointed. If the decision is not in your favor the sibling would be appointed.