Q: Michigan. How do I open probate years after death without an account balance?
My MIL died 6.5 years ago, intestate. My husband is her only heir. At the time of her death we thought we closed all the bank accounts. She was insolvent so there was no probate opened. This year, however, we received a 1099 showing interest on an account in her name. We contacted the bank who said we'd need to open probate to allow my husband to access information about the account. The problem is we don't know how much is in the account, and whether we can do a small estate proceeding. (We can't imagine there's much there but they won't tell us anything, of course.) If we open a small estate and then it turns out the account is above the limit, what happens then?
A:
The bank is right. To give you information, the bank has the right to require you to show proper authority over the account. But you may not need to open an estate to get the money transferred if the account is worth $23,000 or less. You could try to use an Affidavit of Decedent's Successor for Delivery of Assets Owned by Decedent, SCAO form pc598, along with the death certificate to the bank. Here is a link to the form and some instructions at the Leelenau County court's website.
https://www.leelanau.cc/downloads/pkt_DE_affdavit_of_successor_for_delivery_of_assets_instrform.pdf
If the bank will not give you the funds using the affidavit procedure, then you'll need to open an estate. If the account is above the small estate amount, you still would be able to dispense with notice to creditors and proceed to estate settlement because it has been 3+ years since death. An attorney can help you with this if you have more questions.
As always, you get what you pay for. Be sure to talk to a qualified attorney about your specific situation before choosing to rely on any information you get from internet discussion boards, such as this one.
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