What to do when the deceased and her records are in one state (Texas) and her daughter and executor are in another (New York)?
My Mom lived and died in Texas and when she died, the process of notification of everyone was reasonably simple. Her will was straightforward and uncontested, so no need for probate. No assets left in her estate. Simple.
My sister also lived and died in Texas. Her executor is her only daughter who lives in New York State. The will was quite clear that the daughter was to have everything, and no one is contesting any of this. Still, she is mired in bureaucracy. Everyone wants a letter of testamentary. No one asked for this with my Mom. The death certificate was enough. To make this worse, Texas is demanding that she be present personally to get a letter of testamentary which she seems to be needing for all financial matters. She is finding quotes from attorneys to be a burdensome expense, so is trying to avoid them.
Given that she is still in deep grief, with the brain fog that accompanies that state, she is more or less paralyzed, anxious, frustrated, and feeling a lot of guilt for not “just handling it”.
I’m still in Texas and have offered to help in any way I can. She is too muddled right now to even explore that. Any suggestions for helping her get her inheritance without quite so much paperwork punishment?
If it’s as you described it, your mom died with no assets. No assets = no need for probate. No assets = No Estate. Death certificates could be mailed to debtors / accounts to get closed. Or bills flat get ignored.
But if your Sister died with assets, unless all completely in Trusts or had her daughter listed as only beneficiary, there will need for probate court to determine & allow distribution of assets & show “standing”. TX has 3 basic types: small estates affidavit, Muniment of Title & traditional probate. Which type imo (been Executor x3) depends on what status her assets & debts were at time of death. If your niece was super involved in moms life... like signatory on all accounts, had them TOD or POD to her, & there’s no debts, she might can get info needed to determine assets with her nonTX ID & an original death certificate for each account. Then use info to submit paperwork & fees to court for sm. estates affidavit or a Muniment along with valid will. It would mean several trips to TX as MACinCT described.
But if there’s debts or management of or sale of property to be done, imho it’s going to need full traditional probate with her named Executor and Letters Testamentary issued from the court and not a DIY. Kinda best to get a probate atty who has a practice in county where her mom resided as filings for PC done via online portal that attorneys recognized by court have access to. Your niece can’t realistically do this PLUS she is not a legal resident of the state. Court doesn’t know her from the Easter Bunny; but court knows the probate atty and can contact them if need be.
For TX it’s imo a pretty straightforward process to be named Executor & get Letters Testamentary if there is a valid will. The will must be presented to the court, & validated before Letters issued. Probate attys run on avg. $2500-7500 plus court fees unless this is bigger M+ estate imo. If any “foreign” stuff, like assets in another state (actually happens lots if oil & gas assets), that might need atty in those states or Executor goes & files jurisdiction request (loads of fun). If any possibility of litigation, thats speciality work, those prices way different.
Yes, she is expected to show up in person to be named Executor & get Letters Testamentary. You take an oath, serious responsibility. 2 types of Administration: Independent and Dependent (court supervised). Judges can have discretion as to which. Wills can be viewed as invalid, an atty might can smooth that over. (TX revised estate laws few years back, all new formats). If she’s total heir, judge may place Dependent as you don’t want it to look like self dealing. There are specific formats for paperwork; some filings need notary; if real assets (home, land,car) then value determined & filed. Notice to Creditors placed. Doing from out of state imho not feasible unless able to go & spend days or weeks every few months, know exactly how paperwork to be done, and do till assets, claims and distribution done.
TX is a Level of Claim by Class & nonTifra state. These make a huge butt difference as to what happens with debts imho. If Sis died owning property & died with bills (utilities, CC, cable, fone) unpaid, those vendors can file claims. It’s cheap filing & can pay off. No distribution till they get paid or released. I’ve done loads of periodic Executor administrative filings & there’s always a “runner” in line filing a stack of debt claims on behalf of Comcast, AT&T, Reliant, hospitals, etc. onto dockets.
Also if property, expect taxes to triple or quadruple. Tax bills go out Oct. If assessor value whack, she or atty has to file for a hearing (done usually June -Aug) & present why inaccurate. Otherwise it will increase annually.
Also homeowners insurance no longer valid; property needs Vacant Dwelling policy & their $$$.
Should Medicaid be involved that’s a whole other issue....
Really y’all need to find probate atty.
She could give Executorship to you. Which would be more logical you are in the same State her Mom was in. You then would be entitled to a percentage of the Estate. She could give over her Executorship to a lawyer.
I’ve had to get bonded and the probate atty handled doing it. There seemed to be an equation as to how much bond needs to be placed at, and it’s time limited but renewable. Specialty insurance underwriters can do these; it doesn’t have to be from Sneaky Pete’s BailBonds & Towing across from the jail. You get a credit ck run and do a notarized questionnaire. Estate pays for it, assuming there’s $, lol.
So order a bunch initially. A dz -15 per property address seems to be what’s needed in my experience.
For death certificates, usually its the funeral home who orders these, but you have to tell them the #. Ordering initially cheaper and you get them pretty quickly from the State Vital Statistic office.
For Letters, those you pay in cash for at the PC hearing when you are appointed & staff prints them out as you wait. Again get the #s needed (and then some).
Should you run out, it will take probably w...e..e..k...s to get them.