You should definitely consult with an estate planning attorney to review the trust agreement and determine what your rights are and explain it to you. It sounds like you are a trust beneficiary for life, but there will be specific terms in the trust agreement that determine what rights you have as... View More

I often have this conversation with clients after summary administration. In your situation, your last opportunity for reimbursement of estate related and real estate related expenses is at the time of the real estate closing. You are going to want to provide proof of payment of these expenses to... View More

I am so sorry to hear about your mother's illness. Yes, because the property is in her name only and not in a trust or some other probate avoidance strategy, you will need to file a probate case to transfer the property to you when your mother passes away. If your mother's husband... View More

Unfortunately, you will need an order from a judge for the check to be reissued to an individual, not the estate. If you or anyone else paid funeral expenses or final medical bills out of pocket, you can file a disposition of personal property without administration for which the clerk of court... View More

If the order of summary administration lists these checks and that they are to be paid 100% to you, then you can get a certified copy of the court order and send it together with the checks which are likely to be made out to the estate of the deceased and have them reissued to you. If the... View More

It appears that your mother's will is valid but it is not self-proving. The issue is not that the witness was or was not related to your mother. The issue is that the witness was related to the notary. The Florida Notary statute clearly states that a notary cannot notarize the signature of a... View More

If this property is joint tenants with rights of survivorship between your late father in law and you and your wife, then you and your wife are the 100% owners. All you would have needed to do is record his death certificate. If these are the facts, then the property is not part of the estate. You... View More

Filing an objection means that you are contesting something about this estate, and may probate attorneys including myself do not handle adversarial matters. For that reason, yes, you would need to retain someone who either is willing to handle an adversarial estate or handles probate litigation. If... View More

It is important that deeds are prepared correctly. If you are in doubt, please work with an estate planning or real estate attorney to prepare your deed. That being said, to answer your question in general, the homeowner is the grantor, and both the homeowner, as to a life estate with certain... View More

If your mom has moved to another state, you should be able to skip the step of transferring title in Florida by taking the Florida title and his death certificate to the tag office in the state where she resides and see what title transfer on death form that state uses. In Florida probate is not... View More

Thank you for your question. A probate would be required to transfer the property from your late father's name to the heirs. Then quitclaim deeds from the heirs to you would serve to transfer clear title to you. Without probate there is a gap in the chain of title from your father to his... View More

Thanks for your question. In addition to the funding language included on a schedule attached to a trust agreement or in the trust agreement itself, certain assets such as bank accounts and real estate must actually be retitled during the grantor's lifetime in order to be made part of the... View More

Hi! Thanks for your question. If the other person is also an heir or other interested party, they can sign a joinder, waiver and consent to the petition. This joinder, waiver and consent form also includes language stating that the person waives notice and hearing. If you can find the joinder,... View More

Thank you for your question. You will most likely need to open a probate estate and get an order of summary administration from the Court in the county where your mother resided and then include a certified copy of that order in the packet that you send to State of Florida Unclaimed Property to... View More

Thank you for your question. Yes, it is most likely that you will need to open a probate estate to transfer the homestead and the other assets. When an asset such as a homestead, a vehicle, or furniture, furnishings and appliances are deemed to be "exempt property", that does not mean... View More

Thanks for your question! An attorney would need to take a look at the deed to confirm my answer, but based on the facts that you have provided, you and your cousin would be remainder beneficiaries as tenants in common (not with survivorship between the two of you). This means that you would each... View More

Once the real estate together with the mobile home goes through the probate process and the judge has issued a homestead order giving the land and the mobile home to the heirs according to their shares in the will, your siblings can sign an quitclaim deed to give their shares to you. This would all... View More

You should work with an estate planning attorney to prepare a last will and testament with a testamentary trust for minors built into the will. Then with the attorney's guidance, you can designate the testamentary trust in the will as the beneficiary of the retirement account, so that if you... View More

You should submit this question to Alaska Elder Law as you will need an opinion from the state where the elder is located .This may also be an Alaska Probate Law question if you have questions about what the estate is proposing as a distribution.

This is more of a real estate or a landlord tenant question than an elder law question. I would suggest that you choose one of those categories are resubmit your question.