Another Messy estate

[meierlde]

I am not a lawyer, but this isn't making sense to me. If you want to walk away (likely the best move), then do it. I don't think you can do it half way. I expect any involvement may get you legally entangled.

Find out the process to disassociate yourself. Don't do anything else.

-ERD50

Best bet is to get an estate sale agency and have them put on a sale, A good agent will know what can be sold, what can be donated, and what goes to the dump and will take care of items appropriatly. In the cited quote the person is looking at personal property which may have absolutly no value such as any family pictures etc. After making a rough evalution you can decide if opening an estate makes sense. (if net value is less than 10-20 k etc). If over hire the lawyer and the lawyer and the estate sale agent will be the first to be paid. (along with funeral expenses).

 

[thatguy]

Best bet is to get an estate sale agency and have them put on a sale, A good agent will know what can be sold, what can be donated, and what goes to the dump and will take care of items appropriatly. In the cited quote the person is looking at personal property which may have absolutly no value such as any family pictures etc. After making a rough evalution you can decide if opening an estate makes sense. (if net value is less than 10-20 k etc). If over hire the lawyer and the lawyer and the estate sale agent will be the first to be paid. (along with funeral expenses).

I can't sell anything. If an estate is opened the PR can sell stuff.

If the cost of administration gets paid first and the cost of the funeral is paid second and there's enough left to pay the IRS, I don't get stuck with the funeral cost. What do I care how much is left for anybody else?
There are no other heirs. We don't need to make any money from it. The estate will have been properly dealt with. When It's closed, creditors can not be bothering anyone

 

[financemups]

One would think that body disposal, in itself not a small expense, would come before everything, as it is not optional.

Then again, if the deceased's family envisions a huge church filled with socially-distanced mourners, shiny white casket covered with roses, a full choir, two preachers, a live band, a Jumbotron, and a burial plot, all to be paid by the estate, this may give the authorities pause.

well...maybe just everything else but not the jumbotron?! /s

 

[imnontrad]

>What are our responsibilities from just collecting the asset & debt information

Whoever is assigned as the Executor of the estate has this responsibility. If you/your wife, are not the executor, you have no legal responsibility at all.

 

[Gill]

This depends widely on the laws of the state where the decedent (dead beat) died. You don't state if your wife or yourself were named as Executor in a Will.

Assuming that there is a Will, you can have personal liability to other beneficiaries for failure to act as Executor as required under the Will. Almost all states have a procedure for you to "renounce" your obligations as the nominated executor. It may require you to file a simple Renunciation with the Surrogates Court.

If you do not want to hire a lawyer, I would contact the Surrogate in the county where the decedent resided and ask them how to renounce your obligations.

You don’t need to renounce anything. If the will is offered for probate you may renounce at that time. Being designated as executor of a will creates no responsibility until the appointment is accepted.
Gill

 

[Paulz]

I know others have mentioned it, but you are straddling two worlds. You need to extract yourself in completion. One example as a warning is a cousin had a situation similar to yours. Accusations were made that the cousin was spending time in the house and had removed money and property before probate. Cousin asserted he had not taken anything, but had been in the house numerous times. Is a HUGE legal mess that is still ongoing 4 years later.

If there is no money to be had, you really need to just walk away.

 

[ncbill]

Had a neighbor across the street from us die in hospital...was a life-long alcoholic & so apparently the "black sheep" of the family...family wouldn't even claim his body.

What they did do between the time he died & the court appointed an administrator was to come over and take whatever they wanted out of his home, including an impressive number of what were obviously rifles/shotguns (wrapped in towels, blankets, but still obvious.)

I'm sure there was nothing left of value in that home by the time they were done.

 

[thatguy]

We found the motherload of family pictures. Multiple photo albums spanning 3 generations. This was what we were looking for.

 

[Amethyst]

Reminds me of the plundering of Scrooge's home, which the Ghost of the Future shows him in "A Christmas Carol."

"All I got was his sheets."

Had a neighbor across the street from us die in hospital...was a life-long alcoholic & so apparently the "black sheep" of the family...family wouldn't even claim his body.

What they did do between the time he died & the court appointed an administrator was to come over and take whatever they wanted out of his home, including an impressive number of what were obviously rifles/shotguns (wrapped in towels, blankets, but still obvious.)

I'm sure there was nothing left of value in that home by the time they were done.

 

[thatguy]

Well, there is still time to change our minds, but the decision has been made to abandon this.

 

[pb4uski]

Well, there is still time to change our minds, but the decision has been made to abandon this.

Can you elaborate? Not clear what you mean.

 

[thatguy]

Can you elaborate? Not clear what you mean.

Abandon the estate. I'm not leaving the
ER forum

 

[thatguy]

There is still possible money coming in. There might yet be enough to cover the funeral. It would be best if there is not any extra.

 

[thatguy]

We've mailed the $8k funeral payment out of our own funds to stop accumulating late fee/interest accumulation. The fees/interest were waved for full payment.
Very next day, A check arrived made out to my wife. It would have been direct deposited in the POA account if the bank had not rejected it. She will receive the POD account funds when we tell the bank to close the account. There will be more than enough To reimburse the funeral cost.
All we can do is keep track of what we receive and make the excess available if someone opens an estate. Other than for the funeral this is not money we need to spend.

 

[thatguy]

It's been 7 months. We watch the papers and online. No estate has been opened. Most creditors do not have our contact information. Many debts are probably too small to warrant much collection effort.
One insurance bill is addressed to the deceased at our address. I had once made a payment for him on my charge card. We've not responded.

He had allowed his friend/handyman to sleep in his garage. The guy is still there, now occupying the house. He's running some car repair business pot of the garage. At least he takes care of the place.

There is a mortgage and a HELOC attached to the house.
County tax website shows taxes are paid. Probably the mortgage bank is paying it.

We're not involving ourselves in it. Just watching to satisfy our curiosity.

 

[Sunset]

We've mailed the $8k funeral payment out of our own funds to stop accumulating late fee/interest accumulation. The fees/interest were waved for full payment.
Very next day, A check arrived made out to my wife. It would have been direct deposited in the POA account if the bank had not rejected it. She will receive the POD account funds when we tell the bank to close the account. There will be more than enough To reimburse the funeral cost.
All we can do is keep track of what we receive and make the excess available if someone opens an estate. Other than for the funeral this is not money we need to spend.

If you take a death certificate (available from county in most places) to the bank you can get the POD account money.

If you leave the account untouched, won't it be drained away by auto payments ?

 

[thatguy]

If you take a death certificate (available from county in most places) to the bank you can get the POD account money.

If you leave the account untouched, won't it be drained away by auto payments ?

Bank is just waiting for us to come and accept the check. Bank already has the death certificate. They won't make any payments from it. There were no automatic payments.

We started a new account at the same bank for any money from this. We don't have any other accounts at that bank. That account has the final pension check and will have the POD amount. I didn't want to mix any of that money with our other funds. We will write ourselves a check for the exact funeral expense. What's left is gonna sit there till it's clear there can't be any claim on it.

There is a final social security payment that the bank refused to direct deposit after DOD. SS won't issue it to us. They'll give it to a spouse, child, parent or estate administrator. The won't give it to a sibling. An appeal can be submitted. We're not gonna pursue it. We've got enough for the funeral.

 

[thatguy]

A woman in prison befriended him over the phone and he was convinced she was his girlfriend. We think he paid her legal fees and she got released. She never lived with him. He bought the truck her and her father were using. He was unable to drive or even leave the house when he bought the truck. There was a long period of time when he let serious health issues go untreated which ultimately led to his death. I don't see where this GF did anything to urge him to get help. She made promises and collected money. Her father would visit and get money. They got a another check from him hours before he died. He made her a beneficiary of a life insurance policy.
She tries to contact us from time to time. We won't take her calls. She called today and left a message. I don't know what she's up to but we're not helping her.