NEW YORK.
I would appreciate any help with two questions I have.
My father passed away recently and left no will. I was trying to educate myself on what we (me and my brother are the only children, our mom passed away few years ago) need to do to settle whatever my father had left. He owned no property and had no debts and the only assets he had were some mutual funds accounts, a savings acount and a couple of IRA accounts. I learned that in NY estate with value under $30,000 does not need to go thru probate. If I total all accounts my father left they come to around $60k but I was told that IRA accounts with named beneficiaries should not be included since they will be inherited directly by the beneficiary. In that case the value of his 'estate' is below $30k. Is the information given to me correct? Can we do the small estate administration instead?
My second question regards proving my father's residency. He was a naturalized US citizen and his legal address was in NY - that's where he rented a room from my in-laws (so no lease and no utility bills in his name) but spent most of his time with us in PA or visiting family in the country of his birth. NY address was where he filed his taxes, got his bank and social security mail and had driver's license. He passed away while visiting family abroad and his death certificate has been issued by the authorities in that country. We had it officially tranlated but when I showed it to the county clerk she told me I will need to prove that he actually resided in NY since we didn't get a US Ambassy to issue or certify the death certificate. We never even thought of that at the time. The clerk was actually quite rude and refused to tell me how I should prove that my father resided in NY. I know it should be in a form of an affidavit but I have no further detail. Could someone let me know how to prove this so it's acceptable in court?
thanks!
I would appreciate any help with two questions I have.
My father passed away recently and left no will. I was trying to educate myself on what we (me and my brother are the only children, our mom passed away few years ago) need to do to settle whatever my father had left. He owned no property and had no debts and the only assets he had were some mutual funds accounts, a savings acount and a couple of IRA accounts. I learned that in NY estate with value under $30,000 does not need to go thru probate. If I total all accounts my father left they come to around $60k but I was told that IRA accounts with named beneficiaries should not be included since they will be inherited directly by the beneficiary. In that case the value of his 'estate' is below $30k. Is the information given to me correct? Can we do the small estate administration instead?
My second question regards proving my father's residency. He was a naturalized US citizen and his legal address was in NY - that's where he rented a room from my in-laws (so no lease and no utility bills in his name) but spent most of his time with us in PA or visiting family in the country of his birth. NY address was where he filed his taxes, got his bank and social security mail and had driver's license. He passed away while visiting family abroad and his death certificate has been issued by the authorities in that country. We had it officially tranlated but when I showed it to the county clerk she told me I will need to prove that he actually resided in NY since we didn't get a US Ambassy to issue or certify the death certificate. We never even thought of that at the time. The clerk was actually quite rude and refused to tell me how I should prove that my father resided in NY. I know it should be in a form of an affidavit but I have no further detail. Could someone let me know how to prove this so it's acceptable in court?
thanks!
