My mom's will leaves everything to me. Everything includes her house (in which I have lived since I bought it in 2015, but sold to her at fair market value in 2019 after she sold her home), and 2 bank accounts ( I am joint on each ) and her down-sized possessions, some jewelry (definitely not "priceless" things, and a few odds and ends currently at a storage unit).
Around here (Florida), if I hire a probate attorney, it will be somewhere around a total of $3,500. I am told it does have to go through probate, between 4-6 months. I want to do things right and legally but if I can avoid this cost, it would be helpful. Per the previous advice of her elder law attorney, Mom bought my house at fair market value in July 2020 and the plan was for her to gift it to me after 2 years. The elder law attorney advised her/us not to do a trust as Mom didn't have "enough" to make it worthwhile. It would have been $2,700 at the time; but now I am told by someone to see a probate attorney and that it will be about $3,000 for Atty fee and $500 for filing fee.
My mom passed away at 97 this past Monday. I am still planning a funeral, but if I need to hire an attorney, I want to just make the appointment soon for after the funeral next week, as the 4-6 month timeline seems so long.
Please only answer if you really know something about this. Thank you.
Yes you can most of this yourself . You may want to consult an attorney to be sure everything you need to do is done correctly
Use the attorney. YOU WILL BE GLAD, in my humble opinion that you did. This isn't something you can afford to do wrong.
1. Are you the only child?
2. Are there any contentious relatives?
3. Did your mother have a will?
4. Have you read the will carefully?
5. Are you the executor or personal representative named in the will?
6. Is the house in the will?
7. Have you filed the will with the probate court?
8. Did your mother owe anyone money?
9. Do you know in whose name the house is titled?
10. Do you know where you're mother's financial documents are?
After a person's death, there are usually several things the executor has to do in a timely fashion. Some include inserting a notification of your mother's death in a local newspaper. You also have to alert Social Security that your mom has died. You will want to pay all bills you know of or should know of, such as hospital bills.
AlvaDeer's advice is spot on. Particularly because the estate contains real property that will most likely have to be retitled, it would be wise to find a good probate attorney. If you do, call the attorney's office and find out if they bill a flat fee or by the hour.
If the flat fee works for you, go with that. If you prefer to be billed by the hour and you want to save money, ask what documents you should bring with you. In addition, you can find probate checklists online to help you figure out what needs to be done and when. Look at at least two. They are not fool-proof and you have to remember that laws differ from state to state.
These are suggestions and not legal advice.
If you are the sole heir to your mother and the named executor of her will then all you have to do is bring it down to the probate court and file it. There may be some fees that you will have to pay and if she owed any bills whomever they were owed to can submit a claim.
I never heard of a person having to hire a lawyer to probate a will.
I'll give you an example, my attorney was trying to file an extension for Inventory for the Estate. Even though it was denied, they still charged $50.
If you're planning to use some money in your mom's will to help pay for the funeral, you could probably look up the information on an estate website.
My husband died of a heart attack unexpectedly at the age of 57. I know nothing about wills neither did his siblings. It was my brother who dealt with his estate. However, by the time my brother dealt with the will, two years had passed.
What I'm saying is, yes if you understand estate law, by all means do it yourself and save money. But please don't try doing it now. Give yourself time to get through the funeral and the mourning process. Then, after say three to six months, log onto an estate probate page which may be able to help you through the process with having to hire an attorney.
God Bless
I just reread your post. So it is ok and legal to put this off for a few months? I am so stressed with it all now. But if I do, what about her credit card that has a balance? ( I am a "user" not an "owner" on that bill. ) Would I just not use it, but not pay on it either (with her money) ? And her bank accounts which I am joint on, can I just transfer that money to my account ? Would I then go ahead and notify them of Mom's passing and close them?
Intestate will need to show who are supposed heirs and why. If deceased was married before and could have kids from those marriages or outside of marriage or kids predeceased parents, all that really needs to be verified as all could be in the line to be a heir. And that means Notice placed in newspapers or journals of records wherever the deceased lived or owned property in the past; means a search of old courthouse and tax assets records, old obits. It’s not imo ever a DIY, there r probate attorneys who do nothing but intestate work. Tend to be women attorney and it’s not expensive, needs 4-6 mos to do research and post Notices. They work a region if your in a bigger state and have their law card registered with all the county courthouses in the region they work within. The paperwork tends to be getting something from 1 county CH to another and they can do it all online via their law card #. I had this the first time I was an executor ages ago for my dads “Aunt” as her first marriage hubs died intestate and she kinda ignore dealing with what he owned, it was a subset to get done to clear out her probate…. absolutely no way that I on my own could know how to do the research and get stuff notarized and filed. A good intestate attorney can do what’s needed all nice & neat with a bow on it for the probate judge to sign off on. DIYing it does not imo.
It turns out, after making an appointment with an attorney, some of the paperwork needed to take with me to the appointment has been delayed, so I called and canceled the appointment the evening before, and again the morning of. I left 2 voicemail messages, this was 4 days ago. Haven't heard back.
So now, am taking a bit of a break waiting on the funeral home paperwork and plan to pay off Mom's 1 remaining credit card, and then contacting the 2 banks to close her checking, savings accounts, since I am joint and pretty sure we did that POD thing. So the one big thing that will remain is the house, and getting it titled to me. I plan to go to the county and ask questions about titling it, will will in hand, and whether they will transfer it to me, with or without probate. I have time, so will look at doing it myself.... for now.
An OC can file a claim against the estate if probate gets opened but most of the time CC OC won’t as they have to have a local law firm do paperwork & get it filed, then wait it out till whenever probate distribution done. Could be years. And depending on probate laws, CC position to be paid from Estate could be way down the list if yours does a Level of Claim by Class on distribution. For CC it’s flat easier just to write it off. Like you send them a certified letter with an original death certificate that Mrs MyOldLife is deceased. CC will maybe send a questionnaire or more likely a debt cancellation letter back. Whether you as a heir want to pay this off personally, is your call.
fwiw in my experience all those property costs on moms house imo kinda need to be your priority to pay. These as a prior over CC debt. If you should forget to pay the utilities or maintenance agreements she had, those accounts she had can be cancelled. It will be a beast to have to get new utility bill, service agreement, etc as you are NOT owner of the home and are NOT an Executor with court orders via Letters Testamentary naming you executor. You have no authority if say the water Dept wants to be all hard ball on this to turn water back on.
also as she has died, any property insurance she had is invalid. Like homeowners is no longer in effect, the homeowner is dead. You’ll need to get a Vacant dwelling policy. Good luck on that as they tend to have narrow underwriting requirements & cost more. Also her property taxes will go up as she’s dead so any over 65 or homestead exemption she had all go away. Taxes could be a huge, HUGE, increase. Really unless you have an unlimited wallet, please pay taxes, insurance and utilities as your priority.
also the probate courthouse staff tend to be quite knowledgeable, some courts do extensive website with FAQ’s….. you may be able to do a small estates affidavit than full probate. Personally I am of the belief that unless you are really comfortable at & understand the working of a courthouse and have bought and sold property several times so know how to read Deeds, that your best off hiring a probate attorney to do what’s needed.
I am curious, with inheriting a house, which is a windfall, why are you quibbling about a few thousand dollars?
You should leave an account open with her name with a minimal amount to keep it open without fees. It is very common to have refunds and checks arrive months after the death in the name of a deceased person that then cannot be cashed because their bank accounts were closed too soon. Removing the money shouldn't be a problem but closing the accounts too soon can become one.
My own experience is that you are fine with small bank accounts, even in sole names, if you produce the death certificate and are clearly the right person to get the money. Low value jewellery, furniture etc, wouldn’t even be listed in a probate application. So it’s just the house.
My suggestion would be to approach this as ‘how to re-transfer the house title’, not ‘how to get probate’. Whoever did the transfer from you to your mother in July 2020 would probably be the best person to ask, as they are already up to speed on the whole situation. Best wishes, Margaret LLB FCCA