• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Probate vs no Probate, help please

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

mdbdn101

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oregon
I could sure use some help. My ex husband has passed with no will. He never remarried and our son (age 30) is his only heir. My son has no money and I have no money to get an attorney. Luckily his father named him as beneficiary on his 401k and life insurance. It wasn't much but will help him out with funeral, etc. and my understanding is he can get that with no problem and pay no penalty on the 401k. His father had a car worth about $9000 and there is no lien on it. He owned a condo worth about $110,000 but owes $100,000 on it. He also had a final paycheck made out in his name of $1700 and $500 in a bank account with no one else listed on it. Now...we understand he can get the car in his name without going through probate. My son just wants to let the house go back to the bank. My understanding is he can let the house go so probate will not be necessary? He could not keep up the payments, taxes etc anyway. If he just takes the car and the 401k and life insurance does he need to do anything else? Does he have to do anything about any creditors owed? Besides the mortgage I think he had a few small credit card balances. He is willing to just let the final check and bank account balance go to avoid anything else needed. My son is grieving and just wants this to be as easy as possible. If he can file a simple estate avidavit my concern is that creditors would take the car but would get his final check cashed and the $500 in his bank account. He would get more if he keeps the car and forgets the check, bank account? He currently has no car so keeping his dads car would be beneficial to him. I appologize if I have made this confusing but this is a confusing time. Any help you can give is very much appreciated. Thank you
 


anteater

Senior Member
Since I don't know all the details of Oregon law, I'll pose this as a question: Are you sure that title to the vehicle can be transferred outside probate if the estate has potential creditors?

Oregon does have a small estate process that only involves the filing of an affidavit. That process is available if the value of real property is less than $150,000 and the value of personal property is less than $50,000.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top