Father's death, unknown will

What is the name of your state? I am in Texas, but my father died in Oregon.

Recently I found out my father died a couple of months ago. He and my mother divorced when I was very young, and he refused contact with me and refused court ordered child support at all, so obviously I am in the dark about his final years or his side of the family.

From calling the county records office to get death certificate information it sounds like I am his only child and that he was unmarried as his brother was listed as the next of kin.

I would like to know how I can determine the final destination of his estate, life insurance and other related things. Also if I am his only child do I have any rights to these things? What other rights do I have in determining information about him, his death, his life, and his estate or debts?

I understand this is a bit vague, but I really have no idea where to go or who to contact specifically with this issue.

Thanks!

dkennedy1 said:

From calling the county records office to get death certificate information it sounds like I am his only child and that he was unmarried as his brother was listed as the next of kin.

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While calling, did you check with the court that handles probate in Oregon to find out if an estate had been opened?

I would like to know how I can determine the final destination of his estate, life insurance and other related things. Also if I am his only child do I have any rights to these things? What other rights do I have in determining information about him, his death, his life, and his estate or debts?

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If probate proceedings were started, the probate file should contain much of this information. If not, unless you file to initiate probate and for appointment as the personal representative, you have no particular right to the information.

If there was no will, no spouse and no other children, you would stand to inherit assets that your father owned solely or your fathere's share of those assets owned as tenants in common. However, assets owned as joint tenants with right of survivorship or that had a beneficiary designation would transfer to the other joint owner(s) or the designated beneficiary.

Thanks for the feedback!

anteater said:

While calling, did you check with the court that handles probate in Oregon to find out if an estate had been opened?

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I did find a number for the Probate court but I have not yet been able to have them answer the phone. Hopefully I will be able to find out something soon. Is there another way to contact a court besides calling? I am in Texas and the court is in Eugene OR so walking in is not an option.

Thanks again!

Q: Is there another way to contact a court besides calling?

A: You could write, but that is really slow. I realize some of these court clerks are not as helpful as they could be. But, believe me, looking up someone's name and then copying the file is not that hard.

Keep trying.

Thanks for the encouragement. After about the 8th call today someone finally answered.

They told me there was nothing filed under his name. I asked if there was a way to find out anymore information or to see if there a will or anything of that nature and she said I would have to contact his lawyer. I told her I didn't think he had one. But the bottom line is that nothing was filed with the court.

So I guess my only option at this point is to hire an attorney to enter some type of probate request.

Thanks!

Do you know if your father owned any property (real, personal, mixed)?

Also, his life insurance, bank accounts, cars, etc. may or may not be part of the probate estate (if there is or will be one).

For example, life insurance is payable to a beneficiary and that beneficiary can be just about anyone.

I'm not sure of anything 100% at this point.

The last information I have about him was through a child support investigation about 15 years ago. At that time he owned a house and a boat, and had a life insurance policy (but I understand a beneficiary would be on that). I also believe he may have owned a small company, and he was retired from the Forestry Department (if that matters).

I am really at a loss as to where to go to determine that information precisely.

If some type of will existed would that be filed with the Probate Court? I assume since the court had nothing under his name that a will did not exist.

It has been just over 60 days since he passed away. If nothing is done with his property does this get turned over to the county/state at a certain time? If that happens how is that handled? Maybe whatever goverment agency that does that would know what his property existed of.

Thanks again!

dkennedy1 said:

...
I also believe he may have owned a small company, and he was retired from the Forestry Department (if that matters).
...

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Bingo!

Start with them.

Purchase a copy of his death certificate from the Oregon Department of Health.

If you know the name of the company he owned, look for it by name on the Oregon Secretary of State's Website.

If you know the city where he died, contact the newspaper for that city or do a search for the newspaper online to see if they might have an obituary notice for him.

Info on Lane County (Eugene) Probate Court:
http://www.ojd.state.or.us/lan/probate/index.htm

Did dad have a spouse? If so, it is very possible most of their assets are owned together. When my dad died, everything went to his wife (who happened to be my mom), not to his kids at all, and we were not even estranged. (This is not unusual, especially when there is a long marriage.) But they acquired it together, so it all belonged to both of them.

Also, if dad had a lot of other debts, medical bills, care home costs, the estate pays those creditors before the estate disburses anything. Many estates are insolvent, meaning they owe more than the available assets.

I tried calling the number that was listed on a website for his company, but that no longer is in service, and the company name did not show up on the Oregon Secretary website search, so I assume it wasn't a 'real' company.

I have order the copy of his death certificate and hope to get that next week.

As far as I know there was no spouse at all at the time of death.

And I forgot to mention in the original post that the way I found out about his passing was through the local newspaper's obituary posting on the internet. I called the funeral home listed in the paper, and although they could not provide details they let me know that there was no service and no burial, which she said usually means there was just a cremation.


I still am at a loss to determine his assests or debts. Would trying to get a credit report help, or is "file to initiate probate and for appointment as the personal representative" the only way to find this out? The probate court said there was nothing listed under his name currently.

Thanks you guys are amazingly helpful.

Even if you managed to get a credit report (doubtful unless you know his SSN and some other info), it's only going to tell you things that you don't want to know - his debts.

Do you know his last or prior addresses? Maybe looking up the neighbors and giving them a call could give you some idea. Never can tell what the neighbors know.

Try inputting his name and city in here and see what you come up with.

http://www.zabasearch.com/

If you find what you think to be his last address. You may want to invest in a background search. They range from $40 to $80 approx. Follow the clicks.
You will get the names and phone numbers of the neighbors around his home.
If that is what it turns out to be.

You can also search the tax records if you get a address of personal single family home.

Is there any reason you are not contacting his brother? I believe you mentioned a brother of your father.

Look for your Uncle at zabasearch also.

You will not be able to purchase anyone's credit report besides your own, as that would be against the law.

Also consider contacting a local library in the Oregon area or a government agency to find out the address and phone number for the Forestry Department (I think it's a federal agency or state agency). If they were his employer, they would have information about possible pension benefits or insurance depending on how long ago he worked there.