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unclaimed money

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K

kimberl71

Guest
about seven months ago mother passed away. i contacted her bank when i was closing her affairs. she had several thousand dollars in the bank but i was not on her account. she also has about thirty-thousand dollars in credit card debt,(yes i did type thirty) she only had enough life insurance to cover her funeral.(i was very grateful for that). if i try to claim that money in the bank do i have to go through probate? and if i do, am i responsible to pay the credit card debt first? i live in the state of michigan.thank you for any help given.
 


I AM ALWAYS LIABLE

Senior Member
kimberl71 said:
about seven months ago mother passed away. i contacted her bank when i was closing her affairs. she had several thousand dollars in the bank but i was not on her account. she also has about thirty-thousand dollars in credit card debt,(yes i did type thirty) she only had enough life insurance to cover her funeral.(i was very grateful for that). if i try to claim that money in the bank do i have to go through probate? and if i do, am i responsible to pay the credit card debt first? i live in the state of michigan.thank you for any help given.
My response:

First, the easy part - -

You, personally, will never be responsible for paying any of mother's debts. Okay, that's out of the way.

The bank account and the money within are part of Mother's "estate." However (there's always one of those), when you file for Probate, the court will order you (or the appointed Administrator) on behalf of Mother's estate to pay all outstanding debts, up to the limits of any available money in the estate - - and that means all of the money in the bank account.

Realistically, you'll never see any of that money. Between paying for an attorney, and paying off the debts up to the limits of what money is left over, there's going to be nothing left for you.

IAAL
 
K

kimberl71

Guest
IAAL,


I thought so, but I appreciate your time just the same. Thank You!
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
5-14-2002

You really should talk to a local probate attorney to find out if he thinks that this money would have to be reported to the court during the probate process. Did your mother have a will? Who is going to be executor of her estate? Whoever gets to be executor will receive letters testamentary with the authority to claim all of her assets (including this money).

There is another way you can get it, if you are willing to wait. The bank will be required, after 5 years to turn this money over to the Michigan Dept. of Unclaimed Property and they will place an ad in the newspaper to search for claimants. At that time, the executor or surviving family members could then submit a claim for that money, which would either be distributed according to the instructions of the will, that the executor would carry out, or split amongst the living heirs (along with your brothers and sisters, if you have any). Probate would not be involved at that late date.

Make sure that you leave a document along with your last will and testament so that someone else in the family will know about this money in case you should die before the 5 years is up.

DANDY DON
 

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