Dying Intestate

What is the name of your state? California

I am wondering what the statute of limitations is for filing on dying intestate in the state of California. My mother passed away in 1999, and I received nothing. My step-father has been financially helping me out, but now he says that he will no longer help. I have 2 small children and don't know what to do. I figured since he was helping me out, that I would not file any claim, I didn't want to be on bad terms, but now I don't know what to do.

What were you told about her estate during the months after she died?

What you need to be doing right now is to check at the county courthouse probate court to see if anyone filed to have her estate probated or not--if so, you can visit the courthouse to look at the file in person or order copies sent to you by mail, and also ask what the minimum amount of estate value must be before probate filing is required.

If your mother had an estate worth a few thousand dollars or more after debts and taxes were paid, then as her daughter you would have qualified as an heir to receive a portion of the estate. If mother's estate was too small for probate, then stepfather didn't have to do anything. But if her estate was large enough to be probated and stepfather deliberately decided not to probate, then that was an error on his part and you can now start the process to get that corrected, perhaps by filing to get it probated yourself (or hiring an attorney to do it) if you have evidence that she has substantial assets now that have not been probated or if you can prove that she HAD substantial assets that were not probated.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])