Alabama Probate Legal Questions

When real property is acquired by two or more persons and the instrument of conveyance does not specify the nature of the ownership, the law presumes a tenancy in common rather than a joint tenancy.  Nobody'e name gets removed from a deed.  Rather, a sale will have to be by a new deed and will have to show all owners are selling all interest each of you have in the property.  Your deceased brother's interest will likely have to be sold by his estate administrator (or executor, if he has a will).  If he had a will, his share passes according to the will.  Without a will, his wife (if married) and/or children/descendants will own his share by intestate succession. A deceased tenant in common's undivided interest is an asset of his probate estate. While title to real property does pass to heirs at the moment of death by operation of law, that passage of title is subject to the decedent's debts, the rights of creditors, and the authority of a personal representative appointed through probate. Without probate, there is no legally recognized way to identify and confirm who the heirs are, satisfy or bar creditor claims, or clear title so that the heirs can sell the property  ... Read Answer

I am not understanding what the question is.  Please revise to add some more information and you will have a better chance of getting a worthwhile response.  As it is written now, I can only be sure that your father has died and was divorced.  The rest of it doesn't make sense.  Is the issue a pension?  Was ex named as beneficiary when he died?  What kind of petition are you referring to? ... Read Answer

Ask a local probate attorney to help you submit her Will for probate or, if she had no Will, apply for a determination of heirship and to administer her estate.  By federal law the mortgage lender will not be able to foreclose for six months after the court appoints you executor or administrator.  During that period, you can talk with the lender about taking over the loan or refinancing.... Read Answer

Texas is a community property state.  Your stepmother retains her 50% interest and a lifetime occupancy right.  Your father's 50% interest passes to his children.  Hire a probate lawyer who practices in the county in which your father lived and died to file an application for determination of heirship or, depending on the situation, small estate affidavit to protect your interest.... Read Answer

You do not write whether your grandmother left a Will.  If she did, her Will governs the half of the home she owned.  If she did not, that half passes to her heirs at law, presumably including your aunt.  You can buy out the beneficiaries under the Will or, if there is no Will, the heirs.  Or they can buy you out.  Or the house can be sold and the net proceeds distributed to the owners based on their percentage of ownership.  Occupancy, paying taxes, care of your grandmother do not increase your ownership interest.  However, you may have a claim against your grandmother's estate for goods purchased or services rendered.  Talk with a local probate lawyer.... Read Answer

You must be represented by an attorney.  The purpose of probate is to prove that the Will is the Will of the person who died or, if there is no Will, that the heirs whom the applicant names are the heirs and the only heirs.  Additional steps are required to protect Will beneficiaries or heirs and creditors.  You cannot simply buttonhole a probate judge and ask him to sign something.  That would be opening the door to fraud. However, if your father left very little, you may be able to file a Small Estate Affidavit.  Here, too, you are advised to hire an attorney.  These documents are not as simple and straightforward as you may imagine. If your father only left a bank account and left very little in it, you may be better off letting it go to unclaimed property and, after four years, trying to get it from the State Comptroller.  ... Read Answer

That lawyer knows more of the facts than anyone on this listserv.  You might ask him or her to explain why the answer changed.  Maybe new facts emerged.  Maybe the law changed.  It appears that now the CD is part of the probate process.  Because debts must be paid and a final tax return filed, it may well be more than a year before a distribution is made.... Read Answer

As your probate attorney may advise you, possession is not nine-tenths of the law.  It is not even one-tenth.  The executor or, if there is no Will, the administrator can bring an action or, if the estate has been settled, either of the other siblings can bring an action for partition, necessitating a sale.... Read Answer