Deceased father's estate

[rainbowkdm]

What is the name of your state? Texas
My husband's father died in November 2002. Because of life circumstances and procrastination, nothing has come of his estate. I believe he has a will but my husband and his family do not know the executor of this will. He knows it is not any of his siblings or himself. The name is not anyone that his family knows and he thinks it is someone his dad knew from a bank or something like that. We have no contact number for this person so his estate has just sat without any activity. We would like to get this resolved but do not know the first step to take. My husband's siblings have shown no interest in resolving it, so it has fallen to us to get this done. Can anyone give us advice?
Thank youWhat is the name of your state?

[Dandy Don]

IF a will can't be found or if no one produces it, it will be assumed that he didn't have one and his estate will be divided up by his next-of-kin. Get a probate attorney to get probate started at your county courthouse.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA (tiekh@yahoo.com)

[rainbowkdm]

I have discovered that my husband has the will. It states an executor that we don't know and have no information on how to contact this person. It is listed in the will that all belongings should be divided amongst all the children, 5 of them. Because we do not know how to contact executor, we have advice from friends that we will probably have to get a lawyer to get around the executor. We do not have money for that. What do we do?

[lwpat]

Make an appointment with the probate court. Take the death certificate, will and your husband's birth certificate. The court can appoint him as the PR. Prior to doing this get all of the others to agree.

[Dandy Don]

The costs for you to file the will are going to be very minimal. The executor gets paid from the value of the estate. Before hiring the attorney, consult with more than one to find out what the exact rate for an executor is in your state (it is a small percentage) so that you won't be overcharged by high fee quotations.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA (tiekh@yahoo.com)