QUESTION

my wife left a will to our children.i had no time to go with our children to the banks to get them the money they deserve . what can they do chi

Asked on Mar 27th, 2017 on Wills and Probate - Georgia
More details to this question:
My daughter was given from my late wife the power to go get what they deserve if I do not do it. I do not disagree but was travelling a great deal and had no time.We have property both in Georgia and in California.
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1 ANSWER

Wills Attorney serving Alpharetta, GA
4 Awards
Your question is not at all clear. If your late wife had a Will that provided for her assets to pass to your children, and if you were appointed as the Executor but do not have time to carry out that job, then you should refuse to accept the nomination as Executor and allow the appointed successor to step in. That should take care of that problem. As for bank accounts: if you are not actually already serving as the Executor (meaning not only that the Will appoints you as Executor but also that you have offered the Will for probate and been issued Letters Testamentary by the probate cout), then you should NOT need to go to the banks in order for the Will to control your wife's accounts. The Executor of her estate would be able to control those accounts. However, if you are also listed as an owner on the accounts, and that's why you would need to be at the bank for the children to access her accounts, then your wife's Will likely does NOT control the accounts. The accounts likely belong to you now, if you and she held them jointly, not to your children, and they don't deserve any money from those accounts. Your wife's Will can only give her children interests in assets that become part of her probate estate. Assets only become part of someone's probate estate if either (1) she owns the asset in her own name, and there is no beneficiary designation, payable on death, or transfer on death designation on the asset, or (2) she owned the asset jointly with another person, but as "tenants in common" (often shown as "TIC"). TIC ownership is NOT the default form of ownership for bank or brokerage accounts, however, so if you and your wife held joint accounts they likely did not become part of her probate estate at all. You can confirm how the accounts were owned with the bank. Please do yourself and your children a big favor and consult with an experienced probate attorney. The children should also consult with attorneys, if they haven't done so. If your wife had a Will but no or very few assets became part of her probate estate, then there will be few or no assets that go to the children under your Will. If there are assets that became part of her probate estate, then there should be a way for the children to get access to those assets without you having to be involved, if you don't have the time to deal with it.
Answered on Mar 28th, 2017 at 5:16 AM

This answer is being provided as general information and not as legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by this answer.

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