what to file no estate or will

If there is a beneficiary designated on the 403(b), then the beneficiary should be able to send a death certificate to the company that handles that account, and the company should be able to send the beneficiary paperwork to claim the account. The 403(b) assets would then not be part of the probate estate, and generally would not be subject to the claims of the deceased person's creditors. If the 403(b) designated the estate as the beneficiary, however, then the 403(b) assets DO become part of the probate estate and are subject to the claims of the deceased person's creditors. If the bank account listed a joint owner, it belongs to the surviving owner. If it was only owned by the deceased person, did it have a beneficiary designation: usually called a "Payable On Death" or POD designation for a bank account. If so, the beneficiary can claim it, but under Georgia law (assuming the deceased person had his or her principal residence in Georgia) the assets from the bank account may still be subject to the claims of creditors even though the POD designation applies. If the deceased was the only owner on the account and there was no beneficiary designation on it, then the assets in the account are part of the probate estate. If the value of the assets in the account are under $1,000, there is a state law that would allow the bank to pay the assets over to the deceased person's next of kin if no estate administration will be started. However, that law does not give legal ownership rights to the next of kin, and it does not protect the assets in the account from being subject to claims of the deceased person's creditors.  As for the car, the household items, and any other personal possessions, those belong to the probate estate. The heirs might be able to use an affidavit of inheritance to have the car distributed to a particular person. However, if there are more bills (medical and otherwise) than the value of the assets that are subject to creditor claims, then the car needs to be sold and the proceeds used to pay creditors instead of passing to one or more heirs. If there weren't a lot of creditors, a Petition for No Administration Necessary might work. However, because there are creditors, and it sounds like the estate could be insolvent, an estate administration may be needed. That means filing a Petition for Letters of Administration. If there's no real estate and the estate has more debts than assets subject to creditors' claims, it may not be WORTH opening an estate for anyone in the family, because they won't get any benefits (other than Administrator's fees for whoever serves, perhaps). In that case, the family can walk away. They should not try to take any assets that belong to the probate estate or are subject to claims if they try to walk: not the car or anything else. It would be a good idea to get a consult with an attorney to help determine what the actual situation is.