Anyone experienced in Estate Issues?

My grandmother recently passed and she had no money...but the little bit she had $2,000 in the bank (that was in a joint account w/ me for like the last 10 years and has been in my account now since January) and would get a total of $1200 a month from her ex-husbands pension and social security.

I know the money that was already there up until he death is not in jeopardy because it's in my name...but for instance we prepaid her blue cross for May and June and she passed April 21st so that should be coming back in her name most likely. Her stimulous check should be coming, the pension people sent her some money (still have to call and see what this is for exactly) and I think there is something else...So when these checks come in, I believe it's money that is legally hers to keep but since isn't here to sign how do we deposit it? My mom had power of attorney before she died but doesn't that only work while living? There was no will or anything because she had no money...

Am I making sense?

I wish I could advise you on this, but I have no experience with this. I'll ask around to see if I can help.

Thanks!!!

michelle, i believe you have to present the death certificate with the check.... i forget how it works, but i know my dad had to do this about 12 years ago when his mom died... let me ask him and get back to you

When my dad passed away about a year and a half ago, I had to file a petition at the county court to be named Administrator of his Estate. He did not have a will either, so I had to have all of my brothers and sisters sign that it was ok that I was doing this. Whenever I got checks for him, I had to sign them over to myself and put them in the estate account that I had to open up. It turned out to be a lot more work than I was expecting. I hired an estate lawyer and I'm glad I did because there were a lot of little things that I had no idea how to do. I wish I could be more help, but I really don't know everything I did and the order I did them, so I would recommend hiring a lawyer.

Here is the Q & A from my county's website: Delaware County PA

Thanks ladies...any info helps...she doesn't have much coming in...so I don't know if hiring a lawyer is worth it...my mom's husband has a few lawyer friends so he is going to run it by them...and we did order a bunch of death certs from the funeral home...so we should be pretty good their...I could always call the bank too huh?

Sorry i only know the UK law on this but I would think its not going to be drastically different in the US.

You take the death cert to the bank and send copies to everyone that had contact for financial reasons to your gran. You won't need a power of attorney, the account is in joint names so all you need is the death cert

In the UK we advise to get a solicitor because there can be big problems if there is no will with intestancy. I'd maybe make an appointment with a solicitor, its worth 30 mins of advice just to make sure you are on the right track.

Sorry I haven't been much help x

Michelle since she died intestate (meaning w/o a will) someone needs to be appointed the adminstrator or adminstratix (female) for her estate. If you want it to be you then you have to file what's called a Petition for letters of Adminstration. You have to file it in the county in which she resided. So wherever she lived at the time is the county in which you would file it.

The form is annoying, I'm not going to lie but its doable. If you want to be the adminstratix then you have to get all her distributees (meaning anyone that has a right to inherit) to waive their rights to wanting to be the adminstrator. Its an annoying form they have to fill out. You will also be required to present the original death certificate to the court along with receipts showing that all her funeral expenses were paid for (California may have different requirements).

You will also have to list all assets she has (insurance policies, stocks, pensions, bank accounts, lawsuits, etc) and whether or not she ever received public assistance.

You will probably have to name every child of hers, any living brothers or sisters of hers, any grandchildren, cousins, aunts, uncles, or parents of hers that are living. They would technically all be entitled to collect.

But in order to save time and sanity the best way to do it is to just pick a family member (either your mom or yourself) to be the adminstratrix and then have only your grandmother's other children or if your grandfather is alive waive their rights. It keeps things simple like that. Let me know if you have any other questions.