Missouri Probate Legal Questions

Neither occupancy nor paying taxes confers ownership.  If the title company will accept it, your grandmother may be able to file an Affidavit of Heirship.  The title company might draft it for her.  Remember that if she was not an only child, your grandmother is not the only heir.  But she may have a claim against any other heir for paying the taxes, etc.... Read More

Any stimulus check issued after he died must be returned to the IRS. A Power Attorney expires with the person granting it. If you need to access your father's account to pay his bills and settle his estate, distributing the rest to the beneficiaries under his Will or, if he had no Will, to his heirs at law under the laws of your state, you will need to open a probate proceeding.  Talk with a local probate lawyer.... Read More

In most states Medicaid can only recover from the probate estate, the estate which passes under the Will or, if there is no Will, through a court heirship proceeding.  While a few states have expanded this to allow recovery from non-probate assets, such as a POD account, Missouri does not appear to be among them. ... Read More

If the deed was from your uncle to you, the property is yours.  Make sure that the deed is recorded with the county clerk. When someone dies without a Will, their property passes according to the state's inheritance laws.  Your uncle's children would inherit, not you. You may have a claim agains the estate for the services which you provided but only if there was a signed agreement specifying the services and the rate of pay.  ... Read More

Ask the probate attorney to file a motion with the court substituting you in as the estate's personal representative.  Deposit the check in the estate's account.  After all the bills are paid, distribute the rest according to your mother's Will or, if there is no Will, the state's laws of inheritance.... Read More

Hire a local probate lawyer to help you file an Affidavit of Small Estate (which in some states is called by a different name).  When the judge signs the Order approving it, take the Order and Affidavit to the bank, open an account, deposit the check.  You may need to call around.  Some banks will not honor the judge's Order Approving Affidavit of Small Estate.... Read More

A power of attorney has no legal effect when the person granting it has died.  This is because the agent under a power of attorney cannot take directions of, act of behalf of a report to a dead person. When someone dies without a Will, that person's property passes to his heirs under the state's laws of heirship, whether by court declaration or by an affidavit of heirship filed in the deed records.  This last will not be enforced by a court until it has been of record with no one complaining that they were omitted. Check the records of the local probate court and check the county deed records to see whether your sister had any apparent authority to sell the house.  Then hire a local probate lawyer to recover your interest in your father's estate.... Read More

Your state may have a small estate affidavit procedure which would cost less than $2,000.  If not, the checks may go to unclaimed property in four or six years.  Her sister and brother can then claim them.  The process requires a lot of documentation and takes a lot of time but it does not involve lawyers and courts.... Read More

If the date of the Will which people have found is recent, or more recent than when your friend told you he put you in his Will, it governs and it does not matter what the earlier Will said.  Since you are a friend, not a spouse, it is unlikely that you can go through his personal possessions or ask the court to order his safety box opened to see whether he mentioned you in a will dated after the date of the will which is being presented for probate.... Read More