Dear Nextwife,
I am going to try and answer your questions as completely as possible.
1. I originally went to probate to petition for temporary guardianship and conservatorship. The judge ended up granting me full guardianship and conservationship based on the report from Guardian ad Litem. I looked on the Wayne County Probate Courts website and those cases are still open. No, a will was not filed, but an intestate probate was filed. My attorney that represented me mentioned that I was all set and he did not mention anything to me regarding the closing of a probate, etc.
2. The only distribution of funds that were not POD accounts, or funds that were not deposited into an estate account were from an old insurance policy that my mother started in the 60's.
3. Other than some POD accounts, her retirement and her Thrift Savings Plan (all of which I was the beneficiary), her credit cards and other accounts (IRA's and CD's) have been closed and the money was put into an estate account, which has been used to pay off her creditors.
4, 5 & 6. The probate case that my mother opened in regards to my father was closed. I have not seen any report from probate in this case in regards to any distributions. My father had 2 brothers and his parents (all of which were alive at the time of his death, but are now deceased), and one of his brothers has a child, but I don't know where she is.
7, 8 & 9. My mother had 3 brothers (of which 2 live out of state). She did not remarry. As stated previously, one of her brothers was the beneficiary of a life insurance policy that she had. Her creditors have been paid, with the exception of two medical bills, both of which I have appealed to BCBS of Michigan because they did not pay them.
I would like to ask how would I go about closing a probate case? If the guardian and conservatorship ended with my mother's death, would that end that portion of this probate, or would I have to go back before the judge? Also, would the court send out some documents periodically asking for a progress report regarding my handling of her estate as personal representative? As I stated, my lawyer did not fully explain what I was responsible for after the hearings, so if I seem a bit clueless, that's why.