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Legal estate advise involving death of a parent and step-parent?
My dad and stepmother were in a non-fault car accident caused by another party. All decendants have been trying to search for a working will for the estate, and also are looking to deal with the insurance companies. A working will has not been found. Rather than going to probate I am working with one of the children of my stepmother to help settle everything fairly to avoid going to probate. I think we can all come to an agreement on these things I just wanted to know if there are any pointers. I have one brother, and she has two sisters and a brother. Both me and the sister have deemed ourselves executors I for my dad's estate and her for her mom's. If anyone has ever experienced this and came through without probate I would appreicate any advice. My dad worked hard for 20 years supporting this woman he loved and it would be a shame to see all their assest not go fairly to the family.
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1 Answer
- cactusgeneLv 710 years agoFavorite Answer
If you do or do not require a probate all depends on the size of the estate and the laws of the state where the decedents resided. E.g. here in California if the estate of either person is $100,000 or less, you can file a Probate small estate petition. No attorney is required, as this is a simple summary proceeding and can be completed in 40 days.
Life insurance policies usually have a designated beneficiary, which is paid directly to the beneficiary(ies) and those policy proceeds are not to be included in the gross estate of your parents, unless the spouse was listed as the beneficiary, without a secondary beneficiary.
Conversely, if the estate includes real estate (a house), then it is most likely that you cannot avoid probate, unless your parents included it in a trust, which I doubt they did.