What is the name of your state? Florida
My father recently passed away unexpectedly. I am the eldest of two daughters and my sister lives out of the area so I am and have been the one to care for my father and his affairs. The title to his mobile home was in either of our names so I have already listed this to sell it since it is an over-55 community in which I am not old enough to live and am prohibited from renting it out.
His bank account was jointly in our names up to 10 days before his death. My dad was concerned that someone had obtained his account number at the time of a deposit of a $35,000 credit card loan so my father closed our joint account and immediately opened another account in only his name transfering all the money to the new account. He had an appointment the day following his death to reinstate my name on the account but obviously was unable to complete that task. He had a will but it dates from 1967 and lists my late mother as executor or a bank that no longer exists as an alternate. He has one small anuity and a small life insurance policy both listing my sister and I as a beneficiary. He has no other investments or property that I know about other than his personal effects, furniture, books, and some jewelry. We have paid his funeral expenses already. My sister has relenquished any claims on his personal effects. I have already closed all of his accounts and all have no balance and there are no outstanding bills to be paid with the exception of two credit cards, one with a balance of $14,000 and the other for the recent $35,000 loan. I am awaiting paperwork from these cards at this time since he may have some insurance protection on them. At this time, I am not in a position to make any payments on the credit cards if i am responsible without the money from his account being released.
Questions: Do I have to hire a Probate Attourney? Can I file a small estate affadavit to release his bank account? What are my responsibilities on paying off his credit card loans? I am not listed on any of these credit card accounts. Can I start disposal of his personal effects so i can sell the mobile home? Once the mobile home is sold, does that money come directly to me and do I have to pay capital gains taxes? He bought the mobile home only 18 months ago for $14,000 and it may sell for about $30,000. Are there any other things I must do to insure that everything is being handled?
My father recently passed away unexpectedly. I am the eldest of two daughters and my sister lives out of the area so I am and have been the one to care for my father and his affairs. The title to his mobile home was in either of our names so I have already listed this to sell it since it is an over-55 community in which I am not old enough to live and am prohibited from renting it out.
His bank account was jointly in our names up to 10 days before his death. My dad was concerned that someone had obtained his account number at the time of a deposit of a $35,000 credit card loan so my father closed our joint account and immediately opened another account in only his name transfering all the money to the new account. He had an appointment the day following his death to reinstate my name on the account but obviously was unable to complete that task. He had a will but it dates from 1967 and lists my late mother as executor or a bank that no longer exists as an alternate. He has one small anuity and a small life insurance policy both listing my sister and I as a beneficiary. He has no other investments or property that I know about other than his personal effects, furniture, books, and some jewelry. We have paid his funeral expenses already. My sister has relenquished any claims on his personal effects. I have already closed all of his accounts and all have no balance and there are no outstanding bills to be paid with the exception of two credit cards, one with a balance of $14,000 and the other for the recent $35,000 loan. I am awaiting paperwork from these cards at this time since he may have some insurance protection on them. At this time, I am not in a position to make any payments on the credit cards if i am responsible without the money from his account being released.
Questions: Do I have to hire a Probate Attourney? Can I file a small estate affadavit to release his bank account? What are my responsibilities on paying off his credit card loans? I am not listed on any of these credit card accounts. Can I start disposal of his personal effects so i can sell the mobile home? Once the mobile home is sold, does that money come directly to me and do I have to pay capital gains taxes? He bought the mobile home only 18 months ago for $14,000 and it may sell for about $30,000. Are there any other things I must do to insure that everything is being handled?