Is this a worst case scenario?

[tony_vaz]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?California
My stepdad past away, apparently intestate.
How can I be sure of this? No one has come forward with a will or trust.
He had both a Corporation and a Limited partnership.
they are both listed as active in CA.
He had a real estate business running first under the LP name , then he did an ownership change of the business to the Corp. Then he changed back to LP.
In the Corp's last statement of info he lists himself as all 3 CEO, CFO and Secretary.He also listed it as "out of business".
He and mom had just married year and a half ago, however they were together over a decade.
He made the 2 changes of ownership when he was married to my mom, but he 1st aquired the busness when he was not legally married.
He has 4 sons (out of the picture for the last decade).
Since the business is on an LP, how do i know If he had any partners?
He was the only owner for what we know, he is listed as the GP in the Secretary of State record's.
Someone said go to probate court, Is this the direction we should take?
Is my mom going to share the business with the sons of him?
Is this a worst case scenario?
Do we need a good lawyer?
Thanks for the help.
-tony

 

[seniorjudge]

You need a good probate attorney to open an estate for you.

The personal representative (whoever it will be) will find out all the assets and all the bills and get everything straightened out.

(Probate law in one sentence!)

 

[tony_vaz]

And the big question is:

Thank you seniorjudge, thats half the answers , now the big question that remains for us is, weather my mom will split the estate in 3 ways 2 for the sons of my stepdad and 1 for her, I was wondering If the fact that my stepdad made the changes of ownership while he was already married translate into a legal sale or alike and therefore the estate would become communitary , as far as I know if he had bought the business while married the entire estate would pass straight to my mom.
Also Is there a place I should look to see if he left a testament? like a county or city office?.
And, also I forgot to mention what makes this case a worst case scenario to me is that the real estate property is under eminent domain..
Thanks again!
-Tony