After a Death and No Will

[ribber]

You will have to apply with the Probate Court to be the Administrator of the estate. You will have to advertise for 4 weeks in the local paper to be named Administrator. After the four weeks the Probate judge will confirm you as administrator after a two week period beyond the advertisement ends. This is if no one contest you being named. Then You have to advertise as the Administrator in the local paper to all debtors and creditors to the estate. Once that is satisfied then division of assets will be made following the law governing intestate succession.

If you can't get your Dad to get a will, in my opinion for what it is worth get an attorney to help you with establishing an estate. You are going to want all the t's crossed and I's dotted.

I am not an attorney, just speaking from experience.

What you said is about how I was thinking it would work.

I have learned that the CD is payable on death to me and my sister.
I am a signer on his checking but unsure if I could use it after death.
My sister is joint owner on his savings and house.
We'll figure it out and maybe it won't be too painful of a process. This is all new to me.

 

[Stob]

I'm a lawyer and although I don't make wills, trusts, and estate planning a practice area of my business, I have done wills for friends and family, and I have had potential clients contact me and tell me about trouble they've had probating the will when their loved one has passed away (not one of my clients, not involving a wheel that I drew up).

My comments:

1-- Yes, your loved one should have a will even if the terms of his will would be the same as what the default provisions are in Georgia law for people who die intestate (without a will.)

2-- The Will should have a self-proving affidavit (although in this particular case it seems like there wouldn't be a long passage of time in between the creation of the will and your loved ones passing, but generally speaking you do not want to have a situation where the probate court has to try to track down and get signatures on forms from people who witnessed your Will years ago when those witnesses may have moved and changed phone numbers, and the women got married and changed their names!)

3-- Get the will done while your father is still of relatively sound mind and does not have dementia, Alzheimer's or any other issue with his mental capacity.
( although by Georgia kaw, a person does not have to have very strong mental faculties to make a valid will. In fact the mental capacity required to make a will is less than what is required to enter a legally binding contract!)

I am very sorry for the OP and family's pain, I have been there with my own father. I pray for you.

This! My Uncle passed several years ago and left everything to my son. Everyone in the family knew it or at least had been told. He was retired from the AF and a CHEAPO, so he always used services from the AF for free. When he passed unexpectedly (after his second retirement)((with no debt, a nice house, several acres, two vehicles, many different sized modest inshore fishing rigs, a Harley to probably 50 grand worth of fishing gear that he purchased over the years)).

He was very modest and I considered him my second father. In no way did I ever want his things; the man spread more love, advice and wisdom to me over the course of my life than I could ever repay. I actually wanted it spread to the family.

His estranged children of more than 25 years swooped in, called the cops, had a locksmith drill the safe and got it all as the Will was never found- was contested in court by our family for three years. His estranged children sold it all for 120K. The house and acreage alone was at the time worth about 400K. He also had a savings account of around 70K and it was granted as well (about 700K total). The AF refused to cooperate and the case was handed down to the state (or something- I checked out).

Gat an estate attorney asap.

 

[Oldstick]

Ribber, again I am not an attorney but it sounds like you possibly do have an easier case to handle. Sounds like your Dad may have covered most of it already. Possibly the checking account might be an issue, because I do know for sure that any Power of Attorney document is null and void when the person granting it passes. But if the bank has you already on record as a signer, that might be the equivalent of you being a joint owner, hopefully? I really don't know.

Then the house, as someone mentioned above, if your sister is listed on the deed as joint owner with "rights of survivor" then y'all might be home free on any need to probate anything.

Edit: But Stob's point above is also valid IF there is a lot of valuable personal property plus ex wives and other children/relatives who might try to swoop in to make claims on stuff.

 

[ribber]

Ribber, again I am not an attorney but it sounds like you possibly do have an easier case to handle. Sounds like your Dad may have covered most of it already. Possibly the checking account might be an issue, because I do know for sure that any Power of Attorney document is null and void when the person granting it passes. But if the bank has you already on record as a signer, that might be the equivalent of you being a joint owner, hopefully? I really don't know.

Then the house, as someone mentioned above, if your sister is listed on the deed as joint owner with "rights of survivor" then y'all might be home free on any need to probate anything.

Edit: But Stob's point above is also valid IF there is a lot of valuable personal property plus ex wives and other children/relatives who might try to swoop in to make claims on stuff.

There shouldn't be any family drama but you never know until something like this happens.
He and my mother divorced 22 years ago. She has remarried, but he never did. And I have the one sister.

 

[Lonegle57]

My mother recently passed away. Being the oldest of 3 sons I was the chosen one to be the power of attorney and executor of her will. I was a co-signer on her checking account. The majority of her money was with an investment firm. She was organized and had her wishes listed as well as insurance, credit cards etc..
The whole process has been a learning experience for me. She lived in Wisconsin so I had to make a trip there to deal with some financial issues as well as her burial wishes. Make sure you get multiple copies of the death certificate, you will need them.
Being on her checking account, it was closed as was her savings once I gave them a copy of the death certificate and the money came to me to be used for her estate. I set up a checking account to deal with estate issues. Learned a business account is easier to use than a personal account.
I talked to the lawyer that wrote my will and he gave me advice as to how to handle issues that have come in Mom's regards. She didn't own a house, she sold it a few years ago but did have a quick claim deed for awhile that the house would go to her son's.
It has been about 4 months since she passed and most issues have been taken care of. Nothing went to probate. If an issue arose I consulted the brothers and told them the majority rules. My brothers have trusted my judgement and as far as I know they have agreed with anything I have done. All of us wished she had spent all on herself.
Miss her much.

 

[Spotlite]

I’m not an attorney but did recently go through this with my brother. Without a Will everything by law goes to next of kin. In his case, his son since he wasn’t married. All he needed was death certificates. Life insurance goes to beneficiary - no Will needed.

If you have siblings each one is an equal heir. Will or no Will a legal heir can file for their equal share through probate.

 

[MudDucker]

I am an estate lawyer and what I say here is as good as what you paid for it!

Will is best by far.

If you die without a will (intestate), someone must file a petition to become the administrator of the estate.

Under laws of distribution and dissent, no your wife doesn't get everything unless you died childless, otherwise the surviving wife splits with children, but will get no less than 20% if there are more than 4 children.

The surviving spouse may be able to file for a year's support and in a lot of cases with small estates, they can be awarded most, if not all, of the estate for one year of support.

 

[Oldstick]

I am an estate lawyer and what I say here is as good as what you paid for it!

Will is best by far.

If you die without a will (intestate), someone must file a petition to become the administrator of the estate.

I agree with that 100%, unless the person has already designated death beneficiaries for all their accounts plus any real estate holdings. And there are no major personal properties remaining that people other than their children are going to come out of the woodwork trying to lay claims upon.

But I also reiterate what MudDucker said. Will is best by far if you have the time and resources to do it. The wife and I paid $500 (supposed discount for two wills at the same time). Everything will be covered even in the rare event that husband and wife both pass at the same time in an auto accident, for example. Save your family the future headache and expense.