Mom died in Louisiana

[TLA]

What is the name of your state? PA

My Mom passed away with no will and no POA. She lived and died in New Orleans, LA - I live in PA. She has two other daughters but I am the oldest and was the closest to her. One daughter lived an hour away but they never spoke, as a matter of fact I met my other sister for the first time a few days ago. The other daughter lives about 30 minutes from me but is really not interested in handling the closing of our mother's finances.

I'm looking for guidance. I flew down to LA and spent the last few hours with my mom - and spent the rest of the week going through her apartment and packing up various items, which I then shipped home. I've already spent a lot of money flying and shipping packages and I think it looks like I might need a lawyer that I can't afford.

We all know that our mother had a TIAA Cref account valued at about $40,000 (that was the statement that I saw as of 12/04). She had mentioned that this would be split between the three of us. She also had some sort of insurance payment that she was receiving a monthly payment from Standard Insurance. I stopped by her bank before I left to come home to try to stop any further activity on her account. They were able to do that task but couldn't tell me anything of course because I have absolutely no power to speak for my mother. I'm pretty sure her account had only about $300.00 and Social Security will try to take back their deposit of $1800.00.

I don't know what to do with everything - her finances, her apartment, her master card bill...again, I'm looking for guidance...questions...general help.

Thanks,
Tammy

 

[Dandy Don]

My condolences on your loss.

Don't automatically assume that an attorney will be prohibitively expensive. At least consult with a few to get fee quotes.

You need to first have some idea of the value of her estate to determine if probate is necessary or not. Contact the county courthouse probate court to find out what is considered a smaller estate and what minimum estate value must be.

Visit the TIAA-CREF website (www.tiaa-cref.org) and call them to find out if your mother named beneficiaries on her account (since you are family they might release the information to you, but if they don't they may be authorized to release it only to her estate executor/administrator--in that case you or an attorney you hire will need to file papers at the courthouse to become administrator/executor, in which case the check will be made payable to the administrator/executor to be distributed according to state probate law. If she did name beneficiaries, then the checks will pass outside of probate and be paid directly to the beneficiaries. (If you know your mother's TIAA-CREF account number log-in and password, the beneficiary information is accessible by you through checking her account information.)

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[TLA]

Thank you Dandy Don...