Maryland small estate probate?

[joepar2567]

I am trying to help my 83 mother-in-law with her deceased husbands small estate probate in Maryland . She and and a elderly part time attorney were named administrator in her husbands will. The estate consists entirely of 60 shares in an Insurance company worth about $2600. The stock is in the deceased husband's name, and the attorney(co-administer) would not sign the transfer papers with my mother-in-law because of the need to go through small estate probate. A small estate probate account has been opened by the attorney, and my mother-in-law has billed for the opening of this account, and for the valuation of the stock. The attorney told her that since the will states that his funeral expenses be paid from his estate first, that she would be reimbursed for part of the funeral expense($4200) that she has paid.
What is the process for transfering the stock to the probate court and then repaying my mother-in-law? Will the court allow the stock to be transfered to her name after ruling that it should go to her for the funeral expenses, or will the stock be liqudated and the money be distributed?

She can not get answer's from the attorney that she understands, and I am helping her manage her financial affairs.

 

[Dandy Don]

The stock will be sold, and a check issued either in the name of the estate or in the names of both co-administrators, which will then be deposited into the estate account.

You need to be consulting with a local probate attorney to find out what the executor fee is in your state. I'm not sure of the procedure there, but I assume the attorney administrator would want to deduct his executor fee out of the estate account and her executor fee as well, and then perhaps giving her what is left over.

Was there a typo in your statement "my mother-in-law HAS billed"? Did you mean to say "WAS billed"?

How much was she charged for the valuation of the stock and who did the valuation? This seems like a bit of an unnecessary charge--if the stock was already in an account at a brokerage firm, the firm should have current records of this and there should be no need for valuation unless the stock was scattered in various states and perhaps the account was not kept current.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[joepar2567]

Thanks Don.
She was billed and paid $100 to open the probate account and have the stock valued. The shares are held by the transfer agent, Equiserve, in her husbands name in "book" form.
I have access to this account online to monitor value, etc.. so I do not know why she was charged for the valuation either. I live in Idaho, so it is hard helping her because I can't talk to the lawyer to question the charges for her. I do not think she will be gouged though, because I was with her when we took the copy of the will to the lawyer/co-administrator in Oct..
I do know there will be other charges for probate, etc, from looking at the Md. probate web site, but we won't know how much for sure until the lawyer finishes.

 

[Dandy Don]

Maryland executor fee is 10% of the first $20,000 of estate value.