Q: My grandmother passed with surving heirs do I have a right to her estate? She left me the deed to her home.
She left me the deed to her home in a safety deposit box that only she and I had access to along with some money in a POD account which I use to pay for her funeral arrangements and any outstanding bills.
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A:
If your grandmother has a will, then her will governs who gets what. If she did not have a will, then the laws of intestate succession determine who gets what. There is no way to answer your question without reviewing the will or, if no will, understanding exactly what heirs survived her (spouse, children, grandchildren).
More information is needed with respect to that deed as well. The answer there depends on whether the deed was recorded or unrecorded and whether you had access to the safety deposit box or not. Be prepared for the possibility that the deed is invalid because it not never delivered to you during her lifetime. If she meant it as a testamentary bequest, the proper way to do that is by making a will. The do-it-yourself technique of creating a deed and holding on to it to be "found" at death does not work.
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