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Death without a will in Tennessee

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J

jwlott

Guest
Tennessee

My wife's father just died in Tennessee. The relationship between the 2 has been strained and communication limited, but he did list her as "next of kin" on his hospital admission form.

My wife is traveling to Tennessee to arrange for burial. At this point, she doesn't know if he had a will. He has a bank account, safety deposit box (at a separate bank), small brokerage account. She's not sure if he had an apartment or what his living arrangements were. My wife's name appears on the bank account. Not sure about the other 2 items. She wants to check the safety deposit box for a will, burial instructions, etc.

Any advice as to steps my wife has to take to gain access to the safety deposit box? Does she need to get an attorney at this point? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated?

Thanks
 


A

advisor10

Guest
SEPT. 4, 2001

DEAR JWLOTT:

So sorry about the death in your family.

Regarding the safety deposit box access, it is usually the executor of the estate who is the only person that the bank will give access to. If your wife finds the will (perhaps it is in his home), she should read it to see who is named executor (most likely it will be her). If she has time to do it while she is there, should should file probate documents at the courthouse to be executor of his estate, and she will then receive the legal papers necessary to give her permission to claim all his assets.

She could just go directly to the bank (sometimes if they understand the personal circumstances, the bank may let her go ahead and have access just to see what is in there).

With this being possibly a small estate, she may be able to do all the paperwork without hiring an attorney, but hiring one would be advisable if she feels she needs advice in the future about anything that might come up.

SINCERELY,

[email protected]
 
N

nitty47

Guest
no will

i just dealt with this in texas.to see if there was a will in my dads box,i was able to have the box drilled(you will probably have to pay between 50 and 100$.)with a certified copy of death certificate.they won't let you take anything out but will give you a proof of inventory of the box and if will in box you should then be able to get permission to get it to file probate without too much trouble.
 

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