Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
My mother, who is English and lives in England has just been told by Public Administration in LA that her first cousin from California died a month ago, but is still in the county morgue as he has no close relatives in the States.
He has never been married and has no sons or daughters. My mother was stated as his next of kin in some of his documentation.
Having spoken to the Administration department they say that nobody in the family who resides in the UK can legally be an administrator of the estate - as yet a will has not been found. Although I do not know the total value of the estate it includes 2 houses in LA. The administration department said that they would arrange for the houses to be auctioned off - this concerns me as this will surely mean that the houses will be sold for a fraction of their worth, particularly during this recession.
Can an English member of the family go to the States to administer the estate or do they have to be an American citizen?
The estate is to be divided between all the first cousins. Some of the first cousins are now dead themselves. Does the family of each dead cousin inherit a share of the estate, or is the estate merely divided by the living cousins?
2 Answers from Attorneys
A person does not have to be a US citizen to be administrator. Call me if you want to discuss some options. -John
The administrator does not need to be a US CItizen, I can not fathom why they would tell you something that is so flagrently untrue. What I do recommend is that you find local counsel here in CA and discuss the situation in further detail and decide, at that point, what your options are and which is the best one for your situation.
There will be some requirements such as powers of atorney that will need to be notarized by the American Conulate in the UK, and a few other loop-holes, but our firm has handled similar situations for relatives living in India and other countries. I am cetain we can assist you, if you should so choose.
If you would like to discuss this matter further in a more private forum, please feel free to contact me directly at the email address provided by LawGuru or through our firm�s website located at PasadenaEstatePlanning.com
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