Q: My father has passed. He did not have a will. He has no estate of value. Do I still need to go through probate court?
My father passed away in Texas in 2016. He did not have a will. He does not have an estate worth value. The kids split his belongs between us. He was not married so no spouse. i am the eldest daughter so I did his taxes for him last year and this year and recevied his last check from his job he was working at when he passed. To cash it they want all kinds of paper work, main one being something stating i am excutor. I prefer to not go to probate court and gain all the debit which was all that was really left. And the amount of money to go through probate is more that his work check. Any way around this?
A: If his estate was under $50,000 you and your sister can file an Affidavit of Small Estate. This may be about the cheapest and fastest form of probate. You can find the form on the website of the Travis County Probate Court.
Ross F. Tew agrees with this answer
A:
I agree with attorney Garrett, however, one of the items in the Small Estate Affidavit is a statement that the assets on hand, other than the homestead and exempt property, exceed the debts owed, other than debts secured by homestead or exempt property (mortgages, car notes, etc.).
What that boils down to is this: if your father had credit card debts, medical bills, or other unsecured debts, and those debts are more than the amount of the last check and other assets remaining on hand, you may not be able to use a Small Estate Affidavit.
I've seen similar situations where it was uneconomical to collect a small check, account, or insurance policy through the probate court. The heirs waited for the insurance company, employer, or bank to turn over the asset to the Comptroller as unclaimed property, and then collected the asset from the Comptroller through an Affidavit of Heirship some years later.
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