Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

Re: Is the Executer of the estate responsible for funeral expenses? She is also

You have a possible problem. While funeral expenses are usually an estate obligation (payable out of estate assets), by making the arrangements, you may have assumed the responsibility by signing personally, which could be questioned as to whether or not you agreed to pay, or merely agreed to advance the funds for the estate. Be prepared to get an argument from your step-mother on this. You do not indicate how your father's assets were registered (individually or jointly with his wife). If individually, a Will would have to be probated to handle them, but if jointly registered, they would pass outside probate to the survivor named on the asset. Also, if there was insurance, who was the named beneficiary. You might want to check with the insurance company, if known. You might want to advertise in a local Florida paper to see if any attorney knows of the existance of a Will of your father. This is a potential problem that might require litigation to resolve. Did your father have a prenuptual agreement? If so, what did it provide. I suspect this is the typical situation of elder remarriage, with inherent problems of conflicts with second wives. Sorry about that! If you'd like to talk about this, call me at (973)-377-3313.

Walter