Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: estate issue

see:

PROBATE CODE

SECTION 13000 through 13210 at:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=prob&codebody=&hits=20

Re: estate issue

Did your Mother have a trust or a will? If it is a trust then the trustee needs to do a number of things, making sure the debts are paid off, making distributions according the trust document, taking care of filing her last year's income taxes, informing Medicare, SSI, etc; and a number of other issues. The trust document would tell the trustee how to manage and distribute the funds. Most people hire an attorney (highly recommended) to help with that administration. Further, the trustee might be personally liable if the trust was not followed, the debts were not paid off, distributions were not correct, etc.

If your mother had a will, then the will needs to be probated. This includes a number of issues, some of them very similar to trust administration, except that it has to be handled by the courts, who need to confirm an executor (that person should be stated by the will). Once again the executor has a lot of responsibilities and could be held liable for mistakes or drawing funds too quickly.

If your mother died intestate (meaning without a will/trust), then you have a whole different issue. You would need to go to the probate court and register her death (assuming there is no surviving spouse), and initiate probate procedures. Her assets would be distributed according to California Statute, which depending on the situation, might not make you the only beneficiary. Once again, people almost always hire an attorney to assist them with this.

You want to be VERY careful about using/removing your Mother's assets without going through one of the above procedures. Draining accounts, selling property/collectibles/etc, or using her funds could get you in a lot of trouble with her creditors and or the State/IRS, as well as her other heirs. I of course do not know the extent of your mother's holdings, but whether or not you have access to her funds, you need to follow the applicable procedures before you distribute/use her assets.

If you are adamant on doing this yourself, I would recommend checking out nolo.com, this is probably the best self help legal site and products.