Q: Hi my Aunt passed away this weekend. Is a successor required to handle her estate?
She was married once and sivorced her ex husband has passed away, she has no children. She has a spreadsheet with death disbursement, she apparently has an updated will that cannot be found. The only will we found is handwritten quite a few years ago. She has possibly four accounts with money and she has several cc to pay off. Her house and vehicle are both paid off. She did not name anyone executor of her estate. How would we go about handling her estate and if we did need an executor do you have an estimate on what it would cost?
A:
An executor of the will would need to be appointed by the court. Basically, to do this, you would pick the bast person related to her you can think of - probably you, I'm guessing, and a petition would be filed to probate the will and asking the court to appoint you as executor. If there is no objection by anyone, then you would be the executor and given the power to take the necessary steps to execute the will such as paying off the creditors and giving the rest to the legatees named.
Our fees to represent you is based on the value of the estate and can possibly come from the assets of the estate itself, so your out-of-pocket costs would be minimized. Give us a call if we can be of more help.
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