some probate Questions

What is the name of your state? California

Hi -
I'm helping a friend with no assets try to figure out how to settle his deceased mother's estate.

1. Deceased died in Oklahoma in July 06... formerly CA resident. "no" will (one from 1969... are the terms of that still valid?)

Where does one file? OK? CA? and which county? Only major asset is a mobile home in a park with the land owned in a rural county.

I'm presuming that filing in the county where the home is located is appropriate? Or is it possible to file elsewhere in CA, as friend is currently in a different county a substantial distance from the home.


2. TOTAL Estate is under 100K (mobile/land included) - some info I've seen indicates this allows a faster procedure, but contradictory information as to whether the mobile and land can go through this simplified procedure - can filing form DE-310 do the trick here? It appears it should.

3. There is a sister, but cannot locate her - serious flake/drug health problems - how does this affect the process? What sort of efforts to locate must be done? Left messages at last known contact phone about a life insurance policy (it's no longer payable, but figured that would get response), and no reply - possibility that sister is also deceased?


Hope these questions make sense - trying to navigate the process, done enough legal things myself to be reasonably competent, but have no experience in this particular area and want to get it right. This is probably the first round of questions, but I'm studying the probate code so maybe I'll be able to ask more intelligent questions.

I'll check back on this forum, hope someone who knows a bit more (or a lot more) than I do can lend a hand.

THX

File to be the personal representative in the county where the land is located. The probate court can provide you with information on state law. The 1969 will is probably still valid.

Does the estate owe money? The estate assets need to be used to pay any estate debts.

Thanks for the responses.

The '69 will is very general, so I suspect its terms would in fact be enforceable. Seems reasonable that it reflects the intent of the deceased enough to provide direction as to any estate. Since obviously things have changed since that time, it will only act as "direction".

The Courts seem to be very reluctant to provide ANY advice other than go hire an atty, which would be fine if there were any money to do so, unfortunately the best option at this point is my help as a friend, since "I'm not an attorney, but play one on the internet" <wink>... most attorneys seem to defer to me on legal matters (or fight until they lose miserably). I just have to come up to speed on Probate law, which looks pretty complex at first glance, but I'm thinking since the estate is not complex and is under 100K, maybe it's not so bad... Sadly I have a better understanding of trusts... so as to avoid this sort of thing

I've figured out that any debts need to be settled - deceased went through bankruptcy in 2001, so trying to get those papers and go from there - presume minimal debt, utility companies and such, and several of those have already written them off, so no claims there - will be doing some research to see if there are any others, presumably they are small and could either be written off or negotiated/settled.

As a practical matter, there are few assets, and no liquid ones... the mobile and land probably represent the only asset other than some personl effects - there's a car somewhere (sister), but who knows where it is - it was given to her prior to passing anyhow, but likely has never been transferred.

Only other twist is supposedly there are tax liens on the property, but the agencies won't talk until they know who they are dealing with - presumably this is where the first step is to be appointed administrator/representative, then negotiations can begin. Since those supposedly are "secured" debts I presume they are not affected by the probate directly, although they can affect how the property is handled - i.e. whether it is sold, passed to heirs with liens intact, liens negotiated and either reduced or eliminated (suspect the tax liens were from bad accounting... got to research, but need to get access to the agencies to "talk").

Can a sale be forced in probate by the secured lienholders? I would think since these are not loan based liens, they cannot force the sale as a bank/lender could. Then again these are government agencies...

I'm "guessing" at this point that the "simplified probate procedures" for estates under 100K would be the best rather than "full" probate as long as all the unsecured debts are settled. Just can't figure out if the mobile/property can pass through simplified...


Thanks for the responses, every bit of info helps! I've had a chance to dig through all the other posts, so learning on the fly as it were!

THX

If there are not enough assets in the estate to pay the bills, the property would have to be sold. It doesn't matter what type of debt but certain debts have to be paid first according to state law. Usually funeral expenses are first and attorney or personal representative fees are next. The probate court will give you the list.

funeral expenses are already taken care of, my friend would be the administrator I think. he has very little, mom had nothing left other than the mobile/property it's on and minimal personal effects. Probably will have to file fee waiver even to file probate... decent folks, just not good with finances. Thus why I'm hoping for a simplified transfer of what remains so perhaps he canget on his feet when it's done. but I'm seeing that nothing in probate is truly "simple".

On the "plus" side, there aren't any debts other than the taz stuff, which is probably secured by the property - will know more tuesday.

As I see it, first thing is to get him appointed administrator if it needs to be probated, or can form DE-310 be used to just get a court order as to him being sucessor to his mom? Looks to me like the conditions are met - unsecured debt is non-existent or has/can be paid I believe. It's been more than 6 months since death. Only problem I can see is that the sister is missing, so cannot join in the petition.

THX

For the mobile home, look at Health and Safety Code Section 18102. What is the value of the land?

Thx for the reference tecate - that helps somewhat - looks like he could take title to the mobile home without court intervention via DMV. Not that it's much - is an older one in so-so shape.

Land value is estimated between 50 and 60K approx a year ago. Waiting on comps, but few sales to use. Also waiting on title info re tax liens.

Thanks!