When I am about to represent someone who is about to become a Fiduciary (Executor or Administrator) of an Estate, I find it helpful talk about “how an Estate finishes”. Like many things in life, if you know where you are trying to go it is easier to make a good plan to get there.
When I refer to a “probate case”, I am talking about any situation where someone has died and somebody is talking to me about it.
There are 3 main areas I ask questions about. Asking these questions helps me figure out what needs to be done, helps me analyze possible scenarios, and helps me decide
When people refer to “cousins”, in a way that covers a variety of relationships. For family and social purposes there isn’t much difference between first cousins, second cousins and “cousins once removed. But for legal purposes when inheritances are involved, there are big differences. The distinctions arise in two particular situations:
As noted in previous posts, aunts/uncles/cousins CAN inherit, if they can disprove the prior inheritance classes (spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, siblings/nieces/nephews) and prove their own relationship and identify and account for everyone at their inheritance level. This generally arises when the Public Administrator is filing a Accounting with the Court and refers to the cousins
People often use the “cousin” terms loosely, as if they were interchangeable. For social purposes they are interchangeable, but legally they are decidedly NOT. This distinction arises in two particular situations:
When I refer to a “probate case”, I am talking about any situation where someone has died and now someone else is talking to me about it.
In these situations there are 3 main areas I ask questions about. I can’t think of a situation where these questions would not be asked. Asking these questions
If a person dies without a Will, and the closest relatives are aunts, uncles and first cousins, do they inherit in New York?
The answer is YES, but there are some special rules. Aunts, uncles and cousins can inherit if there is nobody in the prior inheritance classes (spouse, kids, parents, siblings, nieces or nephews).
When I represent someone who is about to become a Fiduciary (Executor or Administrator) of an Estate, I always talk about “how an Estate finishes”. Like many things in life, if you know where you are trying to go it is easier to make a good plan to get there.
Not every State handles “estate
Many lawyers deal with Surrogate’s Court only peripherally. Considering that questions about Estates and Surrogate’s Court arise so often, it is worth knowing the basics. Here are the top 10 things worth knowing about Surrogate’s Court….
1. The Surrogate Court Clerk’s offices are broken down into departments:
– Probate (Appointment of a fiduciary when there
The word “probate” is often tossed around as something to be avoided. As if the failure to avoid it were a mark of stupidity, or symbolized a lack of care or planning.
On some level if a person does extensive planning, and has ALL their assets with named beneficiaries, or if a person creates a
