Mom Passed - No Will

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma

My mom passed away in 2006. We live in Oklahoma and she lived/died in Texas. She has oil and gas royalties that me nor my siblings have touched. They are direct deposited into an account every month. We were told when she died she owed the bank some money so we never touched the money. Now the IRS has called and wants the taxes off they money that she has gotten. Of course she is dead and the money is still in the account as far as we know. We do not know what bank it is going to or anything. She was very private about all of this. We do know from the IRS how much money she has recieved over the past few years though.

Does anyone know how we should go about getting the money and getting the IRS their share?

Should we hire a probate lawyer? If so do we need to hire one in Texas or Oklahoma? Or does it matter? This is all new to us.

Re Intestate

If a person dies without a will, he is said to have died intestate

If there are heirs, a probate court will appoint an administrator. The administrator decides who the legal heirs are and how the property is to be distributed.


The oil/gas royalties are personal property if she still owned them.

Consult a probate attorney.

Since she lived in TX, that is where probate should be opened.

anteater said:

Since she lived in TX, that is where probate should be opened.

Click to expand...

yes

the fact she was getting royalties means she either owned some land where she allowed oil to be drilled or was involved in some other type of contract that provided royalties to her.

since she died intestate, without looking for the exact order of succession, if she was not married (which is what it would appear to be) the children inherit much, if not all of her property.

Especially since there is activity concerning the oil or gas royalties, you really need to figure out what is going on with mom's estate. Depending on the situation, you could have inherited those income producing properties.