Michigan Probate Legal Questions

Need more information here, is it one of the 3 children who passed or one of the children? If it is one of the children, it will depend on that child's estate plan and what the quit claim says. If there is a right of survivorship, the quit claim now only applies to those still alive. For the will, the specific language is what matters.   Sorry I cannot give you more, but this is all that can be said with the limited information given.... Read More

You can only do so after a judge either signs an Affidavit of Small Estate or declares you an heir and appoints you administrator of the estate.  In either case, the funds should first go into a bank account for the estate.  Talk with a local probate lawyer to determine which of these approaches is best for you.  If the amount is small, you may prefer to let the funds go to unclaimed property and after four to six years (It varies by state), prove to the state comptroller that you are the heir and the only heir.... Read More

If you were to inherit under the Will, you are a beneficiary, not an heir.  If you were the designated beneficiary of the IRA and the brokerage account, you should receive those directly and should contact the brokerage.  If they were only given to you under the Will, the estate's bills must be paid before any distributions can be made to beneficiaries.  A year or more after the court appointed the executor (the exact number of months varies by state), any beneficiary can demand an accounting.  If enough time has passed, hire a local probate lawyer to help you do this and follow up on it.... Read More

Unlike your immediate previous posting, here you seem to want to contest a trust because your mother had dementia.  To show that her dementia was so advanced that she lacked legal capacity to create or amend the trust agreement when she did so, you would need detailed medical records from that time.  Only the executor of her estate is entitled to those records.  If there is something which was not in the trust, her estate will have to be probated (proved) and an executor appointed by the courts.  You can then hire an attorney who does fiduaciary litigation to require the executor to obtain and bring the medical documents to a deposition (a questionning before a court reporter).  It could cost you $20-30,000 to get to the point at which your lawyer could determine whether or not the medical documents contain evidence tending to prove that your mother lacked legal capacity to create or amend the trust when she did so.  Please keep in mind that even people who have so little legal capacity that they are under a guardianship often have the legal capacity to make a Will and, to the extent that a trust is a Will substitute, may also have the legal capacity to make or amend a trust.... Read More

When a Will is admitted to probate it becomes a public document.  Check with the clerk of the local probate court. A trust only becomes a public document if it is the subject of a law suit.  However, most states require that an annual accounting be presented to any beneficiary 25 or older. "Unearned income" is a Social Secuirty concept.  If you are receiving SSI, this should go into a supplemental needs trust, not to you dirrectly and not for your rrent, etc. No one is "guardian of an account."  Your mother may be guardian of your estate (conservator) if a court has so appointed her.... Read More

If the accounts were "joint with right of survivorship," 100% passes to the surviving account holder. If the accounts were "joint," 50% passes to the surviving account holder and 50% passes under the Will or, if there is no Will, according to the state's inheritance laws.   There may also be a need to probate (prove) the estate if there is something besides the accounts.    ... Read More

It depends on whether he had a Will and whether you can prove that he was your biological father.  If there was no Will and he was your biological father, you may inherit under Michigan rules of intestacy.  Please contact a probate attorney who practices in the county in which he died.  (Note that if he resided and died in Mexico, the outcome may be different.)... Read More

If no Will has been filed, hire a probate attorney to file an Application for Determination of Heirship and Issuance of Letters of Administration (or the Michigan equivalent) and apply to administer your father's estate.  If there is a Will which names your sister as executor and gives her more than she would get as an heir, this will prompt her to submit it to the court.  If there is not, once the court appoints you administrator, you will have legal authority over all your father's assets.  You must gather them, pay his estate's bills and divide the rest according to Michigan's laws of inheritance.... Read More

If your father left the home to you in a Will and it does not need to be sold to pay his debts, the executor of his Will should record a Distribution Deed into your name. If your father did not leave a Will and your brother has been appointed by the court to be administrator of your father's estate, it is his duty to evict you in order to sell the house, pay the debts and distribute what remains according to the state's laws of inheritance.... Read More

The judge's Order Approving Small Estate Affidavit should suffice.  Unfortunately, some bank personnel and some banks (mostly national banks) have difficulty accepting these Orders.  Whether you will be required to open an account for the estate may depend on whether you are the only heir and on the bank personnel and the bank.  If they charge you to open the account, you (and your fellow heirs, if any) must decide whether it is worth doing.... Read More

If your stepfather was the beneficiary of everything under your mother's Will, everything passed to him and, when he died, to the beneficiaries of his Will or, if he had no Will, to his heirs.  The probate lawyer may want to file a Distribution Deed conveying your mother's interest in the house to your stepfather. If your mother had died without a Will, you might have inherited some of her estate. ... Read More

A probate court does not award either a Medical or a Durable [Financial] Power of Attorney.  Those are granted by one adult to another.  As your child's parent, you are his natural guardian.  It is not clear what you signed but it is not at all necessary for someone to become guardian of the estate (conservator) to establish a trust.  She is not your son's next of kin:  you are.  Contact a local probate lawyer and preserve your son's rights and your own.... Read More

If your father's estate has been probated and your mother/his wife predeceased him, his estate will pass to you and your siblings unless he left a Will which states otherwise.  They may be paid into the court registry or held in trust.  Contact a probate lawyer who practices in the county in which your father lived and died.... Read More

No one can fire someone they did not hire.  The probate attorney does not work for your brother personally, only for your brother as administrator of the estate.  The average time to administer an estate is two years.  Some states allow an heir to request an accounting before then but only after over a year has passed.... Read More

Your brothers are also your mother's heirs. You absolutely have to include them. If yourr mother had wanted to exclude them, she should have written a Will or given you the money while she was alive. You may find that probate is not as expensive as you imagine. Contact a probate lawyer in the county where your mother lived and died.... Read More