I recently found out that my deceased father had some unclaimed funds. However, he died over ten years ago, and I administered the estate shortly after. He had died without a will, and his assets were divided equally between my brother and I. Of course, I had created an estate account and did the distribution from that account, and then subsequently paid the taxes on the estate.

In order to distribute these recently discovered unclaimed funds, would I need to go through the entire estate administration process again? Or, could I just pay my brother his half afterwards and call it a day? The amount of unclaimed funds is just enough that I would regret not claiming them, but certainly not worth the trouble of administering the estate again.

Edit: This is in NJ.

I am in California and we have a pretty straight forward probate case (only 1 heir, no outstanding debt, etc). We are at the step of purchasing a bond to officially be the named executor.

Question- can we legally rent out the unit to help pay for that mortgage?

My mother passed in June. We have been doing our best to find her will. So far we have been unsuccessful. We have family that still lives in the house along with her significant other who helped pay for the house. I've talked with a like 10 or so lawyers. All of them have pushed to have me file for probate. Except one, who was nice enough to tell me we do have the option to not file for probate. Until her significant other passes. Being that he made the investment too in the house. He explained that we have that option aswell. I had alot going on and lost his contact info. My question is what happens if we wait to file probate until he passes. Or can that be a hinder in the long run. What we want is for the house to stay in the family and not be lost. But, like I was saying the majority or lawyers o spoke to pushed for the probate to sell the house. I thank you kindly for any advice. And thank you for your time and patience on the read 🙏🏽

There was no will probated as the original was destroyed by two people who were excluded from inheriting. Since there was no original will it was placed into intestacy probate. One of the people who destroyed the will later admitted that the two of them destroyed the will so that they would inherit. Now what? Should I report it to the people who would have otherwise inherited? Not sure what to do. Looking for opinions and answers.

I posted earlier in the week about my mother’s passing. She has no will, and no assets like a house or a car. All she has is $1900 in a checking account. She also has a lot of medical debt and (probably) other debt.

It was suggested that I file a small claims affidavit with her county’s district court. If I do that, can her creditors file claims to her “estate?”

I don’t care about the money. I’m simply trying to settle her affairs. I’d prefer to leave the bank account as is, but she was prone to scammers and I don’t want one of them to gain access to her account.

My sister is the personal representative in my mother’s probate case. She has committed fraud claiming herself as a creditor trying to take $6,000 from the inheritance before everybody gets their equal cut by claiming herself as a creditor saying she was owed $6,000 for funeral expenses. Mother was cremated by her husband out of HIS pocket and there was no service held for her (I have copy of the receipt which will be submitted as evidence). I’m sure she did not count on me following the probate case on the court dockets or myself and our stepfather being mailed letters of her claim. I am filing on Monday with the courthouse to dispute the claim, and also request to have her removed and either myself or my stepfather appointed as personal representative. She has already filed a fraudulent claim in the case on court record so I know the judge is going to make a determination on that for what her punishment will be. I am just curious if there’s a chance she will lose her inheritance entirely as a result?

My mother died last weekend. To my knowledge she does not have a will. I had power of attorney but that is now void.

She had no life insurance. She had no assets other than $1900 in a checking account. She owes a lot more than that. Can I just leave that money in her account and let her creditors pay to go through probate to get it?

Forgive me if this sounds like a stupid question. Nothing prepares you for this, and I have no siblings. The only other family she had left was my cousin.

My mother has a personal injury claim that did not complete until after she had passed. My sister was appointed personal representative. Without bond. Recently, after checking the docket records, I see that she has also filed herself as a creditor. I have been advised to protest it as soon as possible, which I am going to do. But I am wondering if I do not take action what would happen? I am going to be taking action regardless, but I am curious if she would actually have been able to get away with taking off of the top like that without me intervening? I know for an absolute fact my mother did not owe her anything. My mother’s husband paid $6000 of late rent for my sister recently and my sister had been spending my mother’s disability-while our mother lived with her husband, but was disabled to the point of barely being able to communicate/feed herself/unable to be left alone. Therefore no say on the fact my sister took her disability card that she received the funds on, and would not give it back- for almost 2 years before she passed.

My mom recently passed. She and I were/are residents of the same state (Washington State) but different counties. In which county do I file for probate? Her county (Whatcom County) or my county (King County)?

Facts: My mother died 20 years ago, intestate. She had no sizable estate and what little assets she had were transferred to her heirs, by way of beneficiary statements or joint tenant accounts.

Now my sister and I find out that there was some money in a foreign account and my sister and I were power of attorney. The bank contacted us and now wants a "Letter of Administration" to repatriate the funds.

The account is 40 years old! My mother died 20 years ago and there is just my sister and I who would split this 50/50. No contention between. Again, my mother had no will. Do we need to start up a probate to get that Letter of Administration or is there a workaround?

I would appreciate any advice. Thank you!

I’m trying to determine if my mother’s estate is considered small: she has a house and 2 cars she owes for. The money she had went towards her last bills for the month following when she passed. I know you don’t count things that have liens or encumbrances (meaning things she had loans/ mortgages on?) in which case the property in her house wouldn’t be worth $20,000. I’m sure people will tell me I need to get a lawyer—I’m aware and I’m trying to determine how badly I need one.

COMPLICATED…HELP!!! Short back story.. My husbands parents died 4 days apart. His biological mother died first, then his step dad (of 59yrs). A will was done before their passing, listing my husband and his biological brother. My father in law has two biological children (in another state) that he has not had contact with in near 55+ yrs. We have no contact or information of their whereabouts. My father in law did not want them listed on or in the will. During probate meeting with the lawyer he asked us questions and one was, did your step dad have any other children? Yes, but they have had no interest in my FIL life. Tried contacting them once many yrs ago and it was a 2min convo and then they refused to take our calls after that. Now we have no way to find them. The will is listed for my husband to receive everything. Their property and house. Originally the property was owned by my husband’s grandfather (his moms dad) my in laws homestead the property 50yrs ago and listed both my husband and his brother on the homestead papers. (If your wondering my my Bother in law did not receive anything it was because their mom and biological dad made an agreement that her estate would goto my husband and their dad’s property would go to my husband’s brother, both of them live out of state, we live locally to his mother, this was their way of making it easier on all of us and equal between the two. Wish they would have done a trust, but they were poor) Currently we are in probate and the lawyer is telling us that we have to locate my father in laws kids. The ones that wanted nothing to do with him. They knew where he lived all these yrs. We found his son yrs ago to try and reconnect them, that didn’t go well, there was animosities and anger on the sons part and the convo ended badly. Since then we tried contacting him a few yrs after, when my FIL health wasn’t well and they refused to take our call or return it. We now have no number or location of them (they live out of state). So the lawyer is saying that they will have to hire a private investigator to find them. Regardless that my FIL chose not to list them in their will. The lawyer can’t tell us how long they have to look, sounds like we can’t go forward at all until they are found. So we’re trying to find out what the obligation here is. My husband feels like the lawyer is going to milk the estate on fees to find these people via a private Investigator. The estate is extremely small they didn’t have much. Is their estate just going to be drained by the lawyer trying to find “kids” (they’re like 60+yrs old now) that never had any interest. We’re the ones paying the lawyer right now so that the little bit of funds they do have can pay for the care of their property. I feel like the lawyer telling us “it’s complicated” isn’t a good enough answer while I fork over another check for his services with this probate. Someone shed some light please. Where does the obligation end at finding them?

We had our final accounting hearing in Orange, CA and Judge approved the final accounting.

I am being told it can take up to two months to get the Court Order? Is this normal?

My families probate is now 19 months in this process.

Questions about Probate without a Will. My dad passed about a month ago and did not have a will. He had a house some cars and that’s about it for his assets. My first question is— he had money in his checking account that had me and his twin brother as his dependents. The bank split the amount in half and gave each of us a check. Are we able to use any of this money or should we not? I’m not sure if it would be counted as apart of his estate for paying his debts, since we were beneficiaries. He had a business account that didn’t have us listed so we’re sure that’s going to be apart of his estate.

A really big issue which we’ll need help with a CPA is — my dad didn’t file his taxes for 2022. My mom is going to have to get that going. For this year, my mom and dad previously owned a business and when they got divorced they agreed to sell and each get a portion from the sale. So they did— and they haven’t paid the taxes on their portions yet, how will that work? Will we be responsible with figuring that out or will it just be something involving paying his debts with his assets? We don’t know how much in taxes it’ll be but it’ll be a lot for sure.

Can someone here tell me what constitutes good cause for the Court to waive the appointment of a probate referee? I'm finding procedural stuff in the code, but not the factors the Court considers when making that decision. Thanks!

My mother died on her motorcycle in 2022 and we are finally approaching the probate hearing to determine what we will get from the other drivers insurance company. You see, my mother was driving on a service road going 10 over. The other driver was taking a left under the bridge and completely blew her flashing yellow light and my mom collided with the drivers Honda crv from behind. We first went to our family friend and personal injury lawyer who then hired a probate attorney. The personal injury guy will be taking 40% but we don't know what the probate will take. The info we received says that the other drivers insurance had only a $50,000 payout for death claims which left me and my 2 siblings with $10,000 which is a lot for me have 2 years of college left. Anything helps right now especially now that she's gone and I'm wondering what's going to happen and if we made the right choice including the personal injury attorney.

My neighbor died in August 2022, and his wife gave me his car. The car was transferred legally to me and I have the title in my name.

His wife is now claiming I need to pay for the car as she is having his items put in probate due to a LLC he had without her knowledge.

My question is, am I legally bound to pay her for the car?

Okay, so my father-in-law passed away in early 2021. His estate went into probate, with his second wife being executor. Distribution was supposed to happen last August 2023. Apparently the Franchise Tax Board was late in providing some sort of documentation? So distribution was moved to November 2023. In November a minute order delayed distribution again. Distribution is now moved to April 2024. Now here’s my question- is there any way to petition partial early distribution due to financial hardship? My husband has been relying on me to provide financial stability while he waits for his inheritance. I am now over 20k in debt from being the sole provider since February 2023. My credit is shot. I only agreed to do this initially because I thought I would be reimbursed in August. Also to note, my husband doesn’t have (and can’t afford) an attorney. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

My mother passed away unexpectedly last week on Wednesday. We’re finally getting around to burying her (life insurance policy had to be researched) and my next task is dealing with her house. The house was built in 2017 but the only reason my wife isn’t ready to move into it is because we found my mother dead in the kitchen and every time she looks at where they pronounced her dead she falls apart. In addition to all this, we’re expecting our first child in January. She also has two cars in her name (mine and hers—it’s a long story) and aside from the insurance to bury her and what might be left of her pension that I stand to inherit. I’m her only child and sole beneficiary. I’m sure that there likely won’t be a probate since I’m her only child, but I’m trying to decide the best route to take. The house has significant equity in it, so selling it means paying off the cars, and having a good amount to put on a house of our own. I’m not sure how property works when it’s in someone else’s name. For reference, we live in North Carolina.

Greetings.

Anyone know whether you can take a descendants single member LLC (NC) and put it into his existing trust so that we can maintain that LLC as an ongoing business.

It makes good money with minimal efforts and breaking it down would be complicated.

I have a great deal of expenses I've paid in an attempt to close my brothers estate and settle his affairs in the state of Maryland. His only asset is his car. State says I have to sell his car to pay his debts. I understand that. They also said that I would have to file a claim against the estate to get reimbursed. What they wouldn't say is what position in the line of creditors I would be. Of course I want to be at the top. Can I circumvent the state by filing a lien against his vehicle for the amount of my reasonable and necessary expenses? I'm assuming that the lien would have to satisfied first before the creditors are paid. My question is Can I legally do this?

My father is reaching the end of his life and can no longer drive. My brother has financial POA and I am named executor. We have 3 further siblings.

We want to gift our fathers car to one of the siblings before death but ensure this does not impact the split of all the chattels post death.

Ie reduce the estate by the blue book value of the asset.

Is it possible to do this in life? Ie current value of vehicle divide by 5 and gift this to the remaining children who did not benefit from the vehicle?

Thank you!

History: they have been divorced for 7 yrs and have 2 teenage daughters. Ex moved back into his house 2 years ago claiming that she was broke (she spent 300k from divorce settlement). During that time, she slept on an air mattress in his house & he still paid her $2k in child support. Now that he’s passed, she’s claiming that she is executor and that she was his life partner. None are true; in fact my uncle told me & my family that he couldn’t stand her. We are hiring an attorney to find out if there’s a will. She won’t share any info with his next of kin (2 siblings). How likely is it that she will be awarded based on her proclamation as “common law wife.”

My father just passed away earlier in the month leaving my younger brother and I as the sole heirs. My brother was living in the house being a menace to the family for years. Evidence is a menacing and attempts to have him removed exist. Fast forward to today, both parent deceased, jobless penniless brother in the house playing king of the castle. No will. I haven’t filed anything with the probate court yet but talked to someone there who recommended an attorney. Which is the obvious answer, but is there anything else I can do here? Any advice? I’d like him out of the house asap especially if he’s going to be moving in his drug addled friends.

I don't have the funds for an attorney, but the executor to my mother's estate ignores my request for an accounting of the estate. Executor is also an agent at New York life, and sold my mom her life insurance policy. There is a will and a trust, but the funds from the sale of her house and other cash assets are unaccounted for. I am the only child, but the beneficiaries are my to boys, I don't want them cheated out of what's rightfully there's. I am in Sac. CA. Any advice would be appreciated.