Probate

Obtain a certified copy of her death certificate and take it with you to the probate court in your mother's jurisdiction. You can fill out a petition to be appointed the Administrator of your mother's estate. There will be a filing fee. The staff will answer any questions you have about filing but they will not provide any legal advice. If you have questions about the legal process od settling the estate you must consult with an attorney.

The executor's fee comes out of the general estate funds, not out of the beneficiaries on a pro-rata basis. But in a practical sense, the residuary legatee is the one who pays the fees, just not directly. Example: An estate is worth $100,000. Debts and expenses are $50,000., of which $10,000 are the executor's fees. The will gives the sum of $50,000 to person A and everything else to person B. After payment of the $50,000 in debts and the gift to A of the $50,000., nothing is left. So B, the residuary legatee has effectively paid the executor's fee.

In some states beneficiaries have been successful in petitioning the court to spread the fees in a more equitable manner when there are limited funds.

This question has two potential answers depending upon whether the executor is the one renting the property or the beneficiary designated to receive it under the will is renting the property. If you mean rented by the executor, it may be at any time as soon as the will is probated and an executor is appointed to act. (Or an administrator if there is no will.) Most states have a statute taken from the Uniform Probate Code that gives the executor possession and control over every asset of the estate during administration of the estate even to the exclusion of beneficiarires who are designated to receive the property. During administration only the executor may rent it out, but the executor retains the discretion to decide if renting it is beneficial to the estate. Thus, even though an executor has the power to rent it out, he or she does not have to do so and cannot be forced to do do by a beneficiary unless a court orders it. If you mean rented by the ultimate beneficiary, the beneficiary cannot rent it out until the executor formally transfers the property from the estate to the beneficiary even if the will explicitly gives the house to that beneficiary. Once it is transferred, it is no longer part of the estate and the executor has no legal right to possession or control, therefore no right to rent it out or refuse to rent it out. The transfer to the beneficiary might have to wait until final settlement of the estate just to make sure that it does not have to be sold to pay for debts or expenses. On the other hand, if an executor is reasonably certain that it is not needed for that, the executor may in his discretion transfer the property before finalizing the estate. I believe it is best to transfer the house as quickly as possible during administration as long as it is clear that there are sufficient liquid assets to pay for everything. That way the executor is no longer responsible for the safety of the asset and he or she has a happy beneficiary.

This depends on the state in which the decedent died, so those laws must be checked. The general rule is that assets in a decedent's name alone may be transferred by the will alone. A will is a document of transfer, except that it operates only upon death. If the spouse has all assets in joint names with her husband, then no probate is needed because the bank account is transferred to the wife by operation of the banking and property laws. Generally, though, even if there is only a single asset, like a car, in the decedent's name, the will has to be probated to give the wife authority to sign the proper paperwork to transfer title.

An executor of a will may be paid for work done on the estate if the will states they are to be paid. Most states will allow expenses to be paid within reason to the executor, but they must show proof.

Yes. You may name co-executors in your will. However, if you do so you should make certain that the two get along well and that your instructions in the will are very clear. You might consider naming an arbitrator, your attorney perhaps, if the two have a disagreement they cannot resolve.

If you live near the court where the probate was filed you can go there and request to see the file. Once a probate is filed with the court it becomes a public record. Some courts have public copiers and you can copy any documents you need. If there is no public copier you can order copies from the clerk. Unfortunately, that's much more expensive with costs generally ranging from $1.00 per page and up.

If you don't live within driving distance you can call the court to inquire about their procedure for ordering copies by mail. To find contact information for a particular court do an online search using the county, state and "probate records".

The executor should operate in the estate's best interests.

Estate lawyers handle estates. An estate is what is left when someone dies. It contains all of the assets and debts of the deceased. The estate lawyer will assist the executor in fulfilling their duties and insure the estate gets settled.

No. A living trust is operative from the moment it is fully executed by the settlor (the person making the living trust). Wills have to be probated, because the maker of the will has died and is not able to identify the document claimed to be his will. The document must be proved (probated) as the proper last will and testament of the decedent before it becomes operative.

If she wants him to own the property when she dies the deed should name Mom and Son as joint tenants with the right of survivorship. If the title is stated that way then when Mom does Son will own the property without having to go through probate. You should seek the advice of an attorney to discuss your options and make the change.

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.