Probate

Here is my situation. My father recently passed away in New York State. His surviving heirs are his four children, all adults. He had a will made up over ten years ago. Since drawing up his will he had also taken additional steps in the handling of his affairs, such as a durable power of attorney where all four of us could act separately on his behalf, a health care proxy (one child was the main proxy, another child was the alternate) and the transferring of the deed to his home to his four children, retaining what is called a Life Estate in the property (although the last year of his life he lived in an adult home and his home remained vacant). He also maintained a savings and checking account jointly held with two of my sisters (one was on the savings account with him, the other on the checking account). Even though all four children were listed on most of his documents, my one sister handled most of his affairs (paying bills, arranging medical care, etc.). Upon his death, both bank accounts were used to pay for his funeral expenses (no life insurance) and some medical expenses until all the funds were depleted. The home will be sold and divided equally. His will was not submitted for probate. He has one credit card account that he had used that had a balance remaining on it. After funeral and medical expenses, there was no money left to pay for this account. My question is more or less two-fold: (1) Does his will have to go through probate before the house can be sold? (2) Are his heirs liable for this credit card account?

Based on the information that you hae provided, it does not appear that his estate was subject to probate and that he may not have even needed a will.
Heirs are not liable for his credit card bill.