I'm dealing with a bit of a mess here. My dad passed away recently. Mom died about six years ago. Dad remarried and that spouse is currently living. A valid will hasn't turned up. The big kink is that Dad never took care of putting everything in his name or of putting the new spouse on anything. The house is still in Mom and Dad's name. Dad had a life insurance policy of which Mom is still the named beneficiary. Mom also left some accounts that are still in her name, and the house is still in Mom and Dad's names. BTW, this all happened in Georgia. From my limited understanding of Georgia probate law, with Dad having died intestate, the things that are in his name will go to the surviving spouse. The question is about things that are still in Mom's name, or have both names on them. I'm thinking this means that Mom still has a bit of an estate floating around in need of an executor, and that since Dad, the previous executor, passed without taking care of it, that one of Mom's kids (of which I am one but not the only one) would now be eligible to petition the court for executorship. Am I onto something or way off base?

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

It seems to me--without finding the statute--that the spouse gets not less than 1/3 and surviving children get up to 2/3, depending on the number of children. I suppose this would apply to both of your parents' probate estates? Remember, only probate assets generally are affected by intestacy laws. If a parent dies with jointly owned (with spouse) property, spouse as joint owner gets the property entirely (car, house, etc).
Retirement accounts and life ins, etc. with named persons as beneficiaries bypass probate and go to the named person as a matter of law.

I suggest you contact a GA estate attorney in the area where they lived. You or one of your siblings should consider petitioning the probate court to be appointed co-administrators or his estate. There may be deadlines to file petitions.

My condolences on the passing of your parents Skippy.


Deceased Person is Survived by a Spouse and/or Descendants

Here is what will happen under the Georgia intestacy laws if the deceased person is survived by a spouse and/or descendants (children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc.):

•Survived by a spouse and descendants - In this case the surviving spouse and the children will share equally in the probate estate, however, the surviving spouse's share may not be less than one-third (1/3) Thus, if the deceased person is survived by a spouse and one child, then each will inherit one-half (1/2) of the probate estate. But if the deceased person is survived by a spouse and four children, then the spouse will receive one-third (1/3) of the probate estate and the children will equally divide the remaining two-thirds (2/3).
Dying Without a Will - Georgia Laws


Intestate Estates

Unless a decedent is generous to his spouse in his will, her best chance at inheriting arises if he dies intestate, or without a will. In this case, Georgia’s state code guarantees that his surviving spouse will receive at least one-third of his estate. If the decedent leaves no children, his spouse receives his entire estate. Otherwise, his spouse must share the estate with his descendants. If he leaves one child, his surviving spouse receives 50 percent of his estate and his child inherits the other 50 percent. Because she is guaranteed one-third, if the decedent leaves four children, his surviving spouse inherits her one-third percentage and his four children equally divide the remaining two-thirds of the estate.
Laws Regarding Spousal Inheritance Rights in Georgia | LegalZoom: Legal Info

Lawyer up.

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

X3.
Find a trusts and estate lawyer in GA immediately. Describe the situation to them

Are you on good terms with your fathers wife?

__________________
This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

Where would it "turn up" from? If there's no will, then the state's rules of intestacy automatically take over. Intestacy can be further categorized depending on the size of the estate.

Once your mom passed, the house more than likely became your dad's as sole owner, automatically, placing it 100% in his "estate" since they owned it jointly. However, once he became the sole owner, the property would then be part of his estate.

GA does not recognize "dower rights" so the surviving spouse would be entitled to no less than 1/3rd of the estate. So if there are more than 3 surviving children, then the surviving spouse would get 1/3 and the children would equally divide the remainder.

Without a will for mom, her estate automatically transferred to dad. With your father's passing, it's all in his estate, subject to intestacy as described above.

Lots of information, some misinformation, but partially because we don't have all the facts.

First and foremost: my condolences. I recently (suddenly and quite unexpectedly) lost my mom and I'm still reeling a bit from it.

Did your mom also pass away without a will? In that case, your dad inherited everything (Georgia, as with most states, has adopted the Uniform Probate Code).

However, as to the house, it will depend on how it was titled. There are variations on a theme, such as "Joint Tenancy", "Tenancy in Common" and "Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship" to name a few. Real property laws (with the rarest of exceptions) trump probate laws, so it's CRITICAL to know how the house was deeded over.

All of that said, the BEST advice in this thread is LAWYER UP. Take it from a (former) attorney: you CANNOT do this without an attorney, particularly given the unresolved legal issues tied to your mom's passing.

There are ways to avoid such entanglements, but the time to do them would have been prior to your father's passing, so now you're stuck.

Good luck to you, and may your grief soon give way to soft, sweet, pleasant memories.

Yes.

Would that be something I could find on the county assessor's website?

That's not what I wanted to hear, but it's probably what I needed to hear. Dad's estate wasn't a whole lot, consisting of a small house (which may have a lien), three POS cars that might be worth $6000 together on a good day, a life insurance policy, and Mom's brokerage account. I'm primarily interested in the insurance and the brokerage account. My sister did a consult with a probate lawyer who wanted fifteen grand up front. Looks like I'll have to try to find one, just a cheaper one.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Call the county recorder re: the deed and ask them. Depending on when your folks bought it there should be a copy recorded...whether it's accessible may depend on whether they have been digitized. You'll probably end up having to go down there in person to look through the records, but that won't cost anything besides your time and gas costs. Or you can contact the title insurance company who handled the transaction and ask, there's usually only a couple anyway, so call the ones in the area.

I sympathize with the whole "avoid the attorney" thing, and had your dad actually probated your mom's passing and cleared up a few things then you might be able to skate through with "paralegal" type forms available...everywhere, but as it stands it is a mess.

I don't have any connections in Georgia, unfortunately. Try calling the bar association and try to find a younger attorney doing real estate law. Most of them work with estates and probate enough already that you may find one who will work at a greatly-discounted rate because it's like continuing education.

The good thing is that if the estate is that small, you don't really need a tax pro to look at things.

I do wish you the very best. Losing someone close is a horrific tragedy, and having to unravel these sorts of things only makes it worse. Not sure of your leanings re: God, but I'll keep you in my prayers.

Sorry for your loss, Skippy.

The lesson is get a will and keep it up to date.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

This. IN SPADES. Especially in second marriage settings!!!!!

There is only one good thing I see in the present fact pattern. The (apparent) state of residency of the deceased parents.* Everything else is in doubt.


*Georgia has no Inheritance or Estate tax.

Unfortunatly just wait till someone in the family wants to fight over something.. Hope you can be spared that.

Takes on a life of it's own sometimes with the unfortunate loss of ones relative. My condolences as well to your loss but life and the end of it does create problems all too often.

I would also suggest that the family do a lost or surrendered asset check in every state that mother and father resided in. Every state has a free website to run names on.

Nevada doesn't either and that would have made things a lot cheaper and easier for me. The plane ticket out there for the funeral was nearly a grand even with a bereavement discount.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Thank you. And I've already done that. However I'm reconsidering some things since I'm in Nevada and my present named executor is in North Carolina.

Too late. Half-sister hates Dad's widow. No one else much likes her either. I can see this getting ugly.

Good idea.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Estates seem to bring out the worst in people. The more the family fights the more the lawyers take home. Greed is a sin and leads to self defeating behaviors. Lawyers earnestly sympathize to your face and then laugh all of the way to the bank.

As much as I love to give advice, that's all I dare give on this one.