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My parent died, but someone lives in the house and we want them to stay
This comes up frequently: A parent has someone living with them, usually a child, maybe a significant other. When the parent dies, usually all the kids inherit the house, but they want to permit the sibling or significant other continue to live there. Is this allowed? Yes. First and foremost, if you are the parent…
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A common misconception about wills and probate
Many people believe that having a valid will allows their estate to avoid probate. This is not the case. In fact, the probate process focuses on authenticating a decedent’s will (if there is one) and approving the named “personal representative” so that he or she can settle debts and distribute assets to beneficiaries. I don’t…
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Don’t spread your loot among lots of banks – here’s why
Lately I’ve been seeing clients who have spread their accounts over many different banks. My sense is that people do this over time, chasing good interest rates, and not exactly meaning to have so many banks in the mix. Maxing out interest rates is, of course, an excellent goal and a fun game to play….
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The $2-million question: Do I have to pay estate taxes?
If a loved one just died, there are many steps to attend to; one very important task is to determine if their estate exceeds $2 million, and if so, you need to proceed carefully. To figure out if an estate is over $2 million, you need to look at everything that the decedent owned. That…
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What happens when there is not enough money to pay all the creditors of a probate estate?
This is an uncomfortable but frequent scenario: Someone dies, and there are simply not enough assets in the estate to pay all the creditors, never mind distribute anything to the heirs. There are clear laws covering this situation. Bills of insufficient estates are paid in this order: 1. Costs and expenses of administration (the probate…
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How Do We Pay Bills When Our Loved One’s Bank Accounts are Stuck in Probate?
This is a very common scenario: Someone dies, no one can get into their bank accounts, and yet there are bills to be paid. That includes home utilities, real estate taxes, medical bills, the probate attorney’s retainer, and more. Usually, there is someone in the family who will front the money. Later on, after probate…
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Being an Executor of an Estate is a Lot of Work—Can You be Paid for Your Time?
Yes, you can. And yes, being an executor—now called a personal representative—is definitely a lot of work. If you’ve hired an attorney, she will handle all the court documents, but there is still plenty of non-legal work for the personal representative to do. Various tasks that a personal representative does include: go to the banks…
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Help! I Need to Probate Someone’s Estate, but It’s Such a Small Amount. Is There an Easy Way to Do This?
Yes! In Massachusetts, we have three types of probates: voluntary, informal, and formal. If someone dies with probate assets of $25,000 or less, plus a car, then you only need to bring a “voluntary” probate. A voluntary is very easy—you can do this yourself, with no lawyer involvement. You will need to complete the probate…
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First Steps to Take After a Loved One Passes Away
There are so many tasks to handle when someone dies: closing bank accounts, sorting personal belongings, selling a home… just to name a few. While it helps to know that your funeral director will notify Social Security and Medicare about the death (one less thing to worry about), what else needs to be done now?…
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