Dual Citizenship and Probate

[blsnow]

What is the name of your state? AZ

Dual Citizenship AZ/US and Croatia of the deceased.
There is a Will. It is a US Will that covers all property (both in US and Croatia) There is no International Will. Real Estate and bank accounts in Croatia are now being settled with contest (because of unequal distribution of assets to the deceased children) according to the Croatian Laws in Probate which could take up to 10 years to settle. Can property and assets owned in the US Probate (No contest) be settled and dispersed to heirs in US before probate of assets are settled in Croatia? Or does the entire estate of the deceased need to be settled, meaning it will take a ten year wait to settle in US too? Also there are 3 heirs named in Will. Do all heirs have equal access to the Real PropertyHouses of the deceased during Probate?

 

[HRZ]

laymans take : you need the lawyer representing executor /estate to address the question.

Very often one sovereign nation or state accepts the rules of another

IF for example the decedant died a resident of AZ and the will was properly probated in AZ ...then at least as to property in the US the will would apply..ancillary probate probably needs to be opened to address any real property held in other states.

Heirs do not necessarily have access to anything until the asset is distributed to them or the executor otherwise grants access.

Whether or not Croatia recognizes a will probated in some other state and allows domestication of same is for the executor to address with counsel.

 

[Taxing Matters]

They will need to do a probate in the U.S. for the U.S. assets. That U.S. will, if it was properly executed in the state in which the decedent resided, would determine the distribution of the U.S. assets. It won't take 10 years to complete that unless there is something really unusual in the estate. If the decedent resided in Arizona when he died, they ought to see an Arizona probate lawyer to get things started.