Dad passed but his stuff is still here

[belshawelk]

Yeah this is exactly why I’m pushing my parents to create a will.

Pretty sure the grandkids have no say or leverage on getting a signature to sell land. Being related doesn’t necessarily make you the heir to the estate as long as there’s a surviving spouse.

Yes, trust even better, eliminates some probate issues where all the new "relatives and friends who were promised" come forward. Cost really isn't that much better but a little bit more of paperwork. You still need a will though also, but properties go in trust

 

[Dan O]

Sounds like no need for an attorney and his mom to just needs to have a heart to heart with her grandkids that they aren't entitled to anything right now.

I agree it sounds like she is okay, but it is better for her peace of mind to know exactly what legal protection she has. Once she has the knowledge of the state law and her legal standing, then have the heart to heart with the kids. This way she can set them straight and dissolve any doubts about who gets what,

Then she should do her will or trust with this attorney and prevent any confusion that may arise down the road. The passing of an elder in a family can bring out the worst in a family. I'm sure most have seen this happen if not in their family, then it may be someone they know.

 

[Addicting]

I agree it sounds like she is okay, but it is better for her peace of mind to know exactly what legal protection she has. Once she has the knowledge of the state law and her legal standing, then have the heart to heart with the kids. This way she can set them straight and dissolve any doubts about who gets what,

Then she should do her will or trust with this attorney and prevent any confusion that may arise down the road. The passing of an elder in a family can bring out the worst in a family. I'm sure most have seen this happen if not in their family, then it may be someone they know.

This to me is out of order. Go and do the trust then have the heat to heart. It’s already a done deal and their excuses won’t cloud her judgement thru heart strings.

 

[Dan O]

This to me is out of order. Go and do the trust then have the heat to heart. It’s already a done deal and their excuses won’t cloud her judgement thru heart strings.

In the middle of something similiar currently. Having knowledge of the legal standing is important as it should guide a person in how they proceed. But no matter what we say she is the one who has to do what she is comfortable with. I wish her the best.

 

[the nikster]

Thanks for the kind responses.
It has been a while since dad passed and mom is finally ready to deal with assets.
We saw a probate lawyer yesterday. The house was owned jointly so it is hers, no issue.
The land was inherited by dad while they were married and he did sign a Quitclaim naming them both so that should also be pretty clear.
Now we wait for legal filing and response periods but she should be able to sell her house in the next 4/5 months. The land, hopefully never.

 

[Bob-WY]

Estate probate can get interesting, glad yours seems straight forward. InWY we created a recordable trust for that reason. Seems any estate item over $250,000 goes into extended probate and has to be advertised in case anyone thi ks they have a claim . The only way around is to out it in a trust with a will as part of the trust designsti g where it goes. All our stuff is jointly owned so this only became an issue I'd we both pass away, this just simplifies it for the kids

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Sorry for your loss.

My grandmother and then dad died within 6 months of each other, and then my aunt a few years later. I was the executor/ managing partner for winding down everything. Hope your situation ends up going smooth and quick. Took me 4 years to get everything buttoned up.

 

[Builder92]

Yup, ID is a community property state. Unless stipulated otherwise in a will it’s 100% all mom’s property.

Correct

 

[ismith]

 

[MonsterElk]

Sorry to hear about any parent passing, my dad past last mothers day. He had it set up that the place would be sold. With opportunity for children or grandchildren to buy. But with the selling me and my sibling would receive 25% each of the sale and he had 5 grandchildren so they each get 10% of the sale. He loved all of us as we did him and made it clean that his wishes were that no amount of money would come between family. And we respected his wishes out of respect but money makes some people do nonrespectable things.

 

[grizzly63]

Here is a sad tale and warning it might be long. I had a cousin who lived in San Franciso and he lived there for reasons of his sexuality. He had never been married. He did have a couple of different live in partners over the years. His last partner had only been with him a year or two to the best of my knowledge.
Around Sept. -Oct 2019 he passed away. No will, no known relatives close or keeping tabs on him. He was in communication with various relatives but not on an ongoing basis. Needless to say, no one knew about this until summer of 2020. (Think Covid 19) No one was free and able to travel to CA to take care of things. Probably our first mistake. At any rate, an acquaintance of his stepped up to be the executor of the estate. A lawyer was selected by word of mouth.
Then the circus started. A full blown relative search was begun. He had no children, siblings or parents. So by law, the estate was to go to his parents siblings and their offspring if the parents were no longer in existence. There were two parent siblings still around. The list of people of eligible benefactors was pretty long and took a long time to assemble. My father was one of two existing parent siblings still around. He was and is in a Nursing home. It is hard to watch your parents fade away in these places but it is what it is. Thats a different story. We did not want to bother him with all the legal stuff and one of my siblings is his legal guardian so they were our point of contact with the legal process. One of the deceased man's parents came from a Reservation. This complicated the search process a little. I cant imagine how difficult this is to accomplish, let alone in a Covid environment. The court system in CA was not on a full time schedule and that delayed things as well. The list of benefactor's was eventually established. By that time, my fathers sibling has passed away which meant another delay to change things around. People on the list would call for questions or ask by email and that would generate more lawyer time and new copies of all the happenings to all of the benefactors at a rate of $5 a page. (Think multiple copies to multiple people, each time the whole thing was copied from the beginning) . The benefactors would try to take out loans on their expected benefits which would lead to their loan companies asking to be involved in the benefits which would lead to more lawyer and court time, more copies and furtherance of delays.
There were some problems with the estate as the deceased had not payed income taxes in many years. He had some personal property and real estate that needed to be liquidated. All these things add up to delays.
In the end, everything was completed and finished. The executor of the state wanted to be listed as a prime benefactor, this was denied but he got the executor rate. The lawyer asked for extra pay due to the complexity of it all. It was late summer 2023 before this was all finished up.
My father ended up getting a share of the money that will help keep his bills in the Nursing home at bay for a short period of time. IF there is any lesson in this, it is simply to get the will done at least. So many of these things could have been avoided with a simple document.
To the OP, sorry to hear of your loss.

 

[Don Fischer]

Ya know, your asking the wrong people although I agree with them, the one to ask is a lawyer! Shouldn't require much more than an office visit unless someone wants to fight it. But them I would think they would have a lawyer telling them, forget it. I think lawyer's are crooks but truth is they should at least know the law.