probate, what to do?

[tinasuth]

We live in Il. My husbands mom just died on 11-30-00. We called one of the brothers last nite after the funeral to get some info about a will or anything. All we were told is that everything is "taking care of". We found out that her mobile home which is only a couple yrs old has the brother's son listed on the title with hers. She didn't have alot & all we were interested in was where everything went. She sold her old place about 3 yrs ago & we heard that she sold it for over $30,000. That was all free & clear since the old place was paid for. How do we find out where that money went & what we can do about finding out anything else. The moblie home is also sitting on the brother's property & they have it for sale & listed for $57,000. Does he get all of the money if it sales. There is 4 sons (1 is in jail) & 1 daughter. They also sold her vehicle about 2 or 3 months ago & the brother doesn't remember where the money went. We were told the money pd off the loan & the daughter bought a car with the rest. If anybody knows of anything that could help us we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

 

[dmode101]

The assets will pass depending on how they are titled. It sounds like the mobile home is in joint tenancy with your brother. Generally, joint tenancy assets pass directly to the surviving joint tenant and are no affected by a will. Assets that are in the decedent's sole name (not joint tenancy or with a designated beneficiary) will pass according to the will, if there is one, otherwise by state law. If such "sole name" assets exceed $50,000 (or if there is any real estate in sole name), then it would be necessary to initiate probate proceedings in county court.