Q: Joint held accounts in the probate process when they are both deceased.
Both of my parents had Wills listing each other the primary beneficiary and me as the second. When my mother passed away in 2018, we did not take any action. Joint accounts and property were not modified or updated. Now my dad passed away in 2020 and I have to file for Probate.
I assume the court accepts that my father inherited my mom's portion of the estate via right of survivorship upon her death so I just file probate on his estate and present my mother's death certificate and Will at the hearing. Or should I file probate under both of their names?
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A:
It is not possible to answer your question without a thorough understanding of everything that was in your father's name (alone or with others) when he died. Even if everything that could be held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship (JTWROS) was held in JTWROS, there are steps that need to be taken to take his name off those titles and into your mom's name alone so that now those items can be probated as part of her estate. Also, some things simply cannot be owned as JTWROS, so as to those things some kind of probate process is required. The type of process depends on the natures of those items and the aggregate value of them. It could range from a simple small estate procedure to a full probate.
Your best bet is to hire a probate attorney to assist you with these things.
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