My father's only asset was his home. He had no will. I have heard administration is not necessary is this true?

Question

My father's only asset was his home. He had no will. I have been told that a full administration proceeding is not necessary, that real property vests in the Decedent's distributees at the time of death which makes the distributees the owners of the property. There are 3 children including myself. Is the only thing that is necessary is a drafting of a new deed to transfer title to us?

Michael David Siegel · Answer

You are correct that you can do it this way. The issue is title marketability. A title company will be more comfortable with an administration, as kinship is not an issue. For example, how would a buyer years down the road know there was not a fourth sibling?

Barry E. Janay · Answer

Correct, but it's best to initiate an Administration proceeding to ensure full title is transferred and there are no clouds on title down the road.

Aubrey Claudius Galloway · Answer

New York State law has guidelines for who (or a number of "whos-ha") gets a deceased person's assets,  One said person died intestate… Meaning without a will.  
 
From my understanding the assets will first go to the person's spouse of still alive, then his/her grandparents if they are still available and next his children,  equally split up if there are more than one. There are a number of different people on this list, so I was just google "New York state rules of intestate death".

Q: My father's only asset was his home. He had no will. I have heard administration is not necessary is this true?