No Will--what happens to insurance?

[DaughterInCT]

Hi. I live in Connecticut. (as did my Dad).
My father died last month. There was no will. The house was recently refinanced and is carrying a debt for about 80% of its appraised value. The car is not paid off, either. I do not live in the house. His (second) wife was living with him at the time of his death. Again, there was no will, and he had no children with this wife.

The wife has filed an application for "fiduciary" with the Connecticut Probate Court. Knowing there are no assets in the estate (It's all debt-laden), I am not planning to contest her being the administrator of his estate. UNLESS---that is somehow giving away my birthright. I have a brother and a sister, by the way. (We are all adults). My siblings were not planning to contest it, either, unless it means we would be giving up any assets we might be entitled to.

Please confirm my interpretation of the law, that the "fiduciary" is only the person responsible for making sure things go where the court says they need to go...in other words, making our step-mother the "fiduciary" has no impact on what we are entitled to. (if there is anything worth having). Correct????

And what happens to all the debt? Who is responsible for it???? I know the law says the wife gets 50% of the assets, and the other half is split among my father's children. But what about the debts? Are those split up the same way?

Also--I am the named beneficiary on at least one, perhaps both, of Dad's life insurance policies. Is that mine, without any contest or arguement?

Step-mother has handed everything over to an attorney, and she will not share the name of the attorney nor will she give me any information about when, or even IF the insurance claim has been filed. I am unemployed and as sad as I am that my father is gone, he wanted me to have this money, and he was very aware of my situation and he would not want me to have to sit and wait and go broke waiting for this. he scrimped and saved for years to make sure I had this small policy when he died.

I have no paperwork about this policy, only his word that I am the beneficiary (He wouldn't lie to me about this, but I don't know whether his wife would...), and do not have access to the house to get any. All I know is the name of the insurance carrier and I can get a copy of the death certificate from city hall.

My questions, in summary:
1. Does giving the wife uncontested fiduciary responsibility of Dad's estate in any way impact any assets that might be coming to his grown children?

2. What happens to mortgage debt?

3. I am the sole named beneficiary on the life insurance policies. Is there any way, legally, that my step-mother or siblings can contest that, and, secondarily, will I actually get that money, or will the court find a way to take it from me to pay off debts or something???

Thanks for the information, I really appreciate it.

 

[vrzirn]

It does take some time for the court to deal with this so be patient. In due time the attorney will contact you. Call the probate court and see if he has notified them of your father's death.
If you are indeed the beneficiary of the policies the money will come to you. It is yours, tax free and cannot be used to pay any debts.Get a certified copy of death certificate and contact the LI company.
Any debts are owed by your father's estate. After they are paid, if anything remains it will be divided according to your state law.Any funeral expenses are paid by the estate. Not you and not your siblings.

 

[advisor10]

2-6-2002

DEAR DAUGHTER:

To find out the name of the administrator of your father's estate, go to the county courthouse and check to see if a probate file has been opened on your father's estate. If the answer is yes, then there should be paperwork in the file showing the name and address of the estate administrator, who was probably hired by your father's second wife. You could contact that person for more information, although they are probably not going to be very helpful in providing any, since there interests are with the second wife.

The life insurance is yours no matter what--you can not be held responsible for anyone else's debts. You should have posted the name of the insurance carrier that you had on your message so that we could help you locate the company, or you could do an Internet search on that name. It is not very likely that the insurance company will contact you, since they may not have your address: your father probably filled out a beneficiary form that only listed your name. There is no way any one can contest your rights to that money--if this second wife had any feelings of ethics or morality, she should voluntarily give you that information.

The estate will be responsible for paying the mortgage debt. Maybe the second wife will have to go back to work to help pay off that bill, or else the house will go into foreclosure and she could lose it if she stops making payments. Hopefully, there are other assets in the estate that might help her with that.

SINCERELY,

advisor