Totally clueless on probate law

What is the name of your state? Texas

My two children lost their dad in a terrible accident outside the US last week. (Probably need a wrongful death attorney too, but that's another story). He and I had been divorced for a few years.

1. We had a joint managing conservatorship, physical custody was with me since he traveled a lot. His mother called yesterday and said that a guardian must be appointed to the kids. Is this true?

2. "Dad" had put his mother's ("Grandma's") name on an emergency contact form as "next of kin" (this is how we found out about the death since her number was listed on the form...obviously he is not going to put the kids names on that form). She feels that this entitles her to inherit the estate. He had no will. It is my understanding that his estate would pass to the kids. Does this "next of kin" entitle her to anything? She has already taken property. It's not that I don't want Grandma to get anything, it's just that she should not be taking anything at this point, should she? Also, she informed me that she would be taking the money from his checking account to pay off his debts. And then, because she does not have the money for the funeral expenses (although they are supposed to be reimbursed), she said she is going to pay for his funeral with his money...which really, I think the money should go to the kids. Am I correct?

3. Since this occurred outside the US, nothing here has happened yet. I am clueless as to how probate works (although am familiar with many other types of law). Since it's not something that automatically went to the county courts since the death was abroad, how can we protect the assets from intrusion? Do we need to file something ourselves with the local probate court?

We have done everything to harbor a great relationship with Grandma...we want to include her in our family. But it already looks like I might have to get an attorney to protect the rights of my poor kids who lost a wonderful father. I know from many conversations during our marriage that he was very angered how she blew through a LOT of money in a short period of time that was left to her when his brother died. But at the same time, I don't want her to feel like I'm trying to be greedy for my kids...I just need them to be taken care of.

She is angered that she was not on the life insurance policy (which designated the kids) nor the retirement (which had no benificiary listed). She called me to let me know all this after she met with his employer yesterday. It just seems to be getting sticky.

Can someone advise me?

Get an probate attorney to be administrator--under intestate law, your children get everything.

It's understandable that grandma is stepping in to try to handle everything to protect her son's interests, but she is somewhat overstepping her bounds by doing things that only the executor has legal authority to do, even though she may be doing it out of ignorance of the law. It would be very surprising if the bank did go ahead and issue her the check from the savings account, since most banks won't release monies to anyone except the executor/administrator.

Your administrator will need to find out what the minimum amount of estate value is in that county (whatever county your ex-husband lived in). Is it likely that he would have had other assets? If he didn't have very much, then it may turn out that probate is not even needed, but at least your administrator will need to file anyway to get letters testamentary (a document giving administrator legal authority to claim any and all assets).

Normally, the location where the death occurred is the determining factor in probate, but since he died overseas, this is an exception, and probate will normally be done in the county for whatever city he lived in while residing in the US.

Your attorney can find out by consulting a family law attorney whether you need a guardianship--guardianship and conservatorship have different legal definitions and it is possible that you might need to get guardianship.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])