Thanks for your post. One beneficiary/heir buying out the other(s) presents a fairly common scenario.

When an estate has enough other liquid assets, then to eliminate transfer taxes it often makes sense to distribute the real estate entirely to the child who wants to acquire it and... View More

Wow. You don't have the latest version of the will, and what you do have is only a copy. No, that's not good enough. You're heading for judicial probate on this one. That's why it's taking so long. There has to be a proceeding regarding what happened to the most recent... View More

Ordinarily, you are required to make a court appearance and produce the original will to be appointed as the personal representative of a decedent's estate. The fact that you don't have the original, but do have a copy, tells me that you may be trying to do something without an attorney... View More

You may only have a future interest after your father's widow (your mother?) no longer is residing in the house. You have no present rights to enforce, unless it has to do with an accusation that your father's widow is causing "waste" to the property (e.g., not paying the taxes... View More

Hi and thanks for posting a real estate question.

The first variable is whether your father's wife is still living. This appears to be a life estate to your father's wife, with the life estate ending if the life tenant moves out or remarries.

You describe a position... View More

Have you checked with the executor to see if he has a copy of the Will, or any correspondence regarding being named executor? Do you or anyone you know have access to the shop where the Will supposedly was stored? Do you know who he named as beneficiaries under his will?

The purported... View More

If these bills are Medicare or Medicaid-related, and are requesting reimbursements for benefits paid through those programs, then maybe. Otherwise, creditors have an outer deadline of 6 months from the date of death to file a formal claim in the estate (not simply mail bills--the claim if a formal... View More

You need to discuss your situation with a lawyer. There are way too many unanswered questions. Is the home free & clear? Are there other heirs? Will the two heirs share it equally and get along in it? Do you want them to have the house or the proceeds from the house?

The short, and... View More

Yes, they can live there through probate, so long as the PR permits it (or the Will directs that they may). Are the contents of the house also going to the two children in the home, or are other persons receiving some of those contents? Until the house is distributed by deed to your two children,... View More

Taxes are imposed on the gross estate. There are exemptions, credits and deductions that are/may be applicable. You absolutely need to pay a CPA to do these taxes for this size of an estate, as well as have estate counsel for the estate administration (or trust distribution). There are too many... View More

Maryland inheritance tax is based on the relationship of the giver to the recipient, and is not tied to other death taxes, so on a $20M estate this could be $2M, $0 or nearly anything in between. (And if the tax is paid "outside" of the gift, Maryland will "tax the tax" and... View More

I agree with Ms. Laumann in almost all respects. I've never seen or heard of nominal bond being waived by prepaying taxes or probate costs. I believe that is because the nominal bond also covers potential unfilled claims of creditors, but I haven't researched that in a really long time.... View More

In a word, yes, even where a Will waives bond the Register can still require a nominal bond to cover anticipated inheritance tax and other court fees.

Wills almost always waive the bond requirement for monies going to people who may inherit. However the government doesn't... View More

Your use of pronouns "someone", "you", "he" and "I" is beyond confusing. It is unclear who these pronouns are referring to, other than the "I."

I'll take a stab: the owner of the company died without a will, and you are... View More

If there is no Will and no surviving spouse, parents or children / grandchildren, the nieces and nephews of the Deceased (children of the deceased sibling) receive under "representation". For example, if there were 4 siblings who either survived or who died with their own issue, then the... View More

No, the estate is split 4 ways "by representation": one-fourth share to the surviving sibling; one-fourth share for each deceased sibling who left surviving issue (children, grandchilden, etc.), which is further divided in equal shares among that deceased sibling's children.... View More

The Court does not need everyone's consent to "proceed with probate". Consent may affect whether or not the appointed person needs to post full or nominal bond.

The law sets an order of priority for people to serve as Personal Representative. When multiple people with the... View More

Your question says you are in DC, but it is posed as a Maryland question, and I am going to guess the estate is filed in PG County, because, even though it's called Orphan's Court formally, in Montgomery, the hearings are in the Circuit Court by the Circuit Court bench, so laypeople never... View More

In Maryland, the way you get Letters of Administration is by filing a Petition for Probate. That opens an estate. If the assets are all in non-probate assets, they get listed separately in the Information Report.

If you are asking whether you can have the proceeds from the sale of the house before you agree that the house should be sold, the answer is sort of obvious. But, perhaps the real issue here is that you don't trust the personal representative or their counsel. If so, you should retain your own... View More