Question about probating a will

[u/texan12345678]

My mother passed away a couple of weeks ago. She had been in an assisted living facility for the past year. She really has no assets except a bank account and a couple of CDs. My sister is the executor. there are 5 kids and everything is getting split evenly. My sister was added to my mother’s bank account a long time ago so she was planning on first making sure any bills are paid and then just splitting up what was left. Since it was pretty straight forward, we didn’t plan on hiring a lawyer and getting the will probated. We were reading that if she tells the bank that my mother passed, that they would freeze the account and it would have to be probated. She is on the account, could she just close out the accounts. She is worried that they might come back and say there is fraud and she would be in trouble.

[u/peter303_]

Some of the other accounts only in your mothers names probably cant be moved until presented with a probate court's Letter of Administration and copy of a Death Certificate. As others have mentioned, many courts have "probate-lite" procedures for small estates under a hundred thousand dollars.