Q: Stepmom and Dad passed away 8 months apart both with wills
My stepmom and dad passed away 8 months apart they both have wills. My stepmom’s will and dad’s will hasn’t gone through probate yet. Should both will be probated or only the one that passed away second?
A: Both need to be probated. The good news is that it's often less expensive to probate two wills at the same time. At our probate law office, we call it "piggyback probates"! The reason they both have to be done is because the first spouse's name needs to be removed from title so that everything is in the surviving spouse's name.
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A: This cannot be answered with total certainty without reviewing both wills, both estates, and how each individual asset is titled. It is theoretically possible that you could have only one probate (for the second to die), but more likely than not you will have two probates.
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