Q: All i have: marriage certificate (in Las Vegas) and his death certificate. No will. How to make banks open a search?
Please Help. He was a musician, very secretive... US citizen, but I also believe he had residency in Calgary. He passed away in Japan. All I have in my possession: my marriage certificate (got married in Las Vegas), his death certificate that the US consulate sent me in 2004 (i've been going through a lot) and his diary (few numbers that I called. End up with no more information about him.) and a last statement of an investment account (in Calgary), less than two thousand dollars. I do believe he had a bank account or a safety deposit box in Calgary or Vancouver. When I called the banks (I need to locate the account or safety box. And I need to know the amount of it. Is there a way to open a search for it?) and the investment company, they have no consideration for me! Saying that I am the surviving spouse means nothing to them! Please advice me what to do (I can not afford too many expenses). I am recently resident of New Jersey, US. Thank you so much for your time and consideratione
A:
Although this may be frustrating, the investment company is actually following the law by not releasing information to you. Although you are the surviving spouse, this does not mean that you are automatically authorized to obtain information about your spouse's assets, but if there is no Will, you have the priority to apply to be authorized by the Court to administer your spouse's estate (at least in NJ). Typically, the only persons that can get access to such information are surviving joint account holders, persons designated as a beneficiary of an account by paperwork filed by your spouse with the financial institution before he passed away, the executor/administrator qualified by the Court to handle the administration of the Estate, or persons authorized by a Court Order. If nobody has been qualified by the Court to be the executor/administrator and there is no Will, then you, as the surviving spouse, have priority to apply to be the Administrator in NJ.
However, where you have to qualify usually depends on the location of your spouse's last residence when he passed away. If your spouse was not a resident of NJ but he was a resident in another state in the U.S., then typically you qualify with the Court in the county of the State of the last residence of your spouse, then you apply for Ancillary Probate at the local county Surrogate Court in NJ where the assets are located. In addition, you may have to follow a similar ancillary probate procedure in the other countries.
If he was not a resident of the U.S. at the time he died, then you may have to qualify first in the other country and then apply for Ancillary Probate in the State where the assets are located. If your spouse did not reside in the U.S. anymore, then you may want to call the local NJ county Surrogate Court to confirm what they will require to qualify you as the administrator in NJ because they might not require you to qualify overseas. A list of the NJ County Surrogates is available at http://www.norrielaw.com/practice-areas/Probate-Trust.shtml.
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