what happens without a will?

Question

what happens when your father dies without a will, i know it goes to the next of kin, but as fare as courts and what not, what happens, this is in the US just in case

i know its going to my brother and i, i just dont understand the proccess mostly

Answer 1

Where a person dies without a will, such as in the case of your father, somebody will need to qualify to be administrator of the estate. In your case it would be either you or your brother. You may be required to file a bond for faithful performance of your duties as administrator. The bond premium paid to an insurance company is an expense of the administration of the estate.

If the decedent is survived by a spouse and there are children, the surviving spouse will receive $50,000 plus half of the balance of the probate assets. If there are children, the surviving spouse will receive everything.

If there is no surviving spouse and the decedent is survived by issue [children and the issue of deceased children], the children will take shares "per capita" with issue of deceased children taking the share that their dead parent would have received.

Before there is division of property into shares, of course, all of the decedents debts and taxes must be paid. States generally require the filing of a notice of estate administration to be advertised in a newspaper of general circulation for several weeks. This gives notice to creditors to file claims. In Pennsylvania, creditors have one year from the first advertisement of letters of adninistration to file a claim. Claims filed after the expiration of that one year are barred and are uncollectable from the estate.

If the decedent had income before he died, the personal representative will have to file a final personal income tax return. In many states, an inheritance tax return is required. The rate of inheritance tax varies state-by-state, and some states do not have an inheritance tax.

The individually-owned real estate will typically pass to the intestate heirs as tenants-in-common. The administrators may want to have an estate deed prepared to transfer title to them, but this may not be required in all cases. As regards to the real estate, one intestate heir may want to buy out the interest of the other joint owner. One joint owner may want the land or house, and the other might prefer to have the cash value of the land or house.

An inventory of estate assets must be filed according to state law. In many cases, the court may require the administrator to file an accounting of the receipts of assets and income, the payment of bills, administration expenses, and claims against the estate, and the distribution and/or proposed distribution to estate beneficiaries. To end the administration of an estate, the parties may sign an estate settlement agreement to be filed in court or sign receipts and releases for the assets they receive.

Answer 2

Depends on the state, my father in law passed away leaving quite a large estate.
It goes to probate, where every family member can come forward and make a claim agianst the will.
We find ot if fact there was a will but that the mother in law(wifes mother) has torn it up.
It in it stated that he wants 50% to go to the mother and the remaining 50% to be devided up between the 3 daughters, but not one of them would come forward and say anything.
So I sit backand watch what has to be described as utter horror and this seeminly sane person goes on what could only be described as a lunatic spending spree.
But my advice is that if your family member is planning on passing anything along then you will need to have a will if its sizable over a million than it would make sense if you had and attorney draw things up.
It is much better to pass along anything prior to death this way the state gets very little.

Answer 3

Your father unfortunately died intestate, or without a will. The state will ultimately decide how to distribute the estate, and you should consult an attorney in this matter. You want to protect as much of the estate as possible.

I'm sorry for your loss. Good luck with this.

Answer 4

Your state law will determine who is the "next of kin" and entitled to the estate. Unless your father has assets valued over $1million there probably wont be any federal tax but you'll need to ask about state taxes.

Answer 5

The family becomes partners with the STATE!!! and the state will determine who gets what.
You will all have to go to PROBATE COURT, and maybe get a lawyer yourself, so the STATE doesn't try to take HALF of your father's assets for itself.

Maybe a lawyer can arrange a fair settlement.. but the STATE will not go away empty handed.

Answer 6

Without an estate plan...a will or trust. The State will take over probate and do what the state feels is best for the state.

Answer 7

the chances of a person benefiting with the inheritance of his or her parent or relative are very low.