help with probate

[live8116]

Tennessee

ok so my grandfather and i were really close, instead of having normal visitation with my mom, his daughter, i had visitation with my grandpa.
my mom has a pill problem and she lived with my grandfather, and she is still living in the house he rented....she stole money from him almost every day til the day he died 12/23/12...i believe he died because he couldn't handle the stress from my mom any longer.....but anyways
He didn't leave a will, the only thing he did was make me beneficiary to his ORNL bank account..
my mother is trying to get her hands on all his money and items that he owned, such as a vanguard account that has 8000+ in it.
i know that he wanted all his money to go to me because he knew she would waste every penny of it, and that money has to be used for his funeral anyways but if its left to my mother she will throw him in the ground the cheapest way possible and take them money....

and if there is any way i can protect his stuff and money from her please help me....the money he had is all we have to get him back home to Alabama to be buried with his mother and father.....

 

[justalayman]

unless somebody files to open probate, the only thing you can protect is/are the account(s) that have you listed as beneficiary.

any account that has a listed beneficiary will go to that beneficiary. Any life insurance he has will go to the named beneficiary.

If you or some other person were to open probate and be accepted as personal representative, they would have the right to take action to protect the estate assets.

31-2-104. Share of surviving spouse and heirs.

(a) The intestate share of the surviving spouse is:
(1) If there is no surviving issue of the decedent, the entire intestate estate; or

(2) If there are surviving issue of the decedent, either one-third (1/3) or a child's share of the entire intestate estate, whichever is greater.
(b) The part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse under subsection (a) or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes as follows:
(1) To the issue of the decedent; if they are all of the same degree of kinship to the decedent they take equally, but if of unequal degree, then those of more remote degree take by representation;

I don't know his family relationships so I cannot tell you entirely who would be entitled to what but if your mother is the only child and her father had only one wife and no other children, your mother is entitled to everything not needed to pay debts of the estate.

 

[live8116]

my grandfather only had my mother and my self....his wife, my grandmother died a long time ago when my mom was 16...and my mom is an only child......he has 2 brothers and a sister but i dont think they want anything of his...

 

[justalayman]

then your mother is the only person to inherit anything. As I stated, any accounts that had named beneficiaries will pass outside of probate. The bills of the estate must be paid prior to any distribution but after that, your mother gets everything.