Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Michigan
Claiming grandmother's unclaimed property held by State
I am 26 years old. My grandmother died 5 years ago. I did not believe that she had any assets. No probate. To my knowledge, I am the only living relative. Recently, I found out that the State of MI is holding 'unclaimed property' of my grandmothers. I don't kow the value of the unclaimed property or even what it is. Do I have to open a probate in order to claim this propety held by the state? How else can the property be claimed?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Claiming grandmother's unclaimed property held by State
You know, I have not encountered this issue before. In any event, before I started complicating matters, I would contact the State and tell them I want to collect the property and see what they say. I would find out what exactly the property is.
I would also consider whether an estate was ever opened and probated. Legally, I believe that you would indeed have to open an estate to ultimately receive the property.
If it is not claimed, it escheats to the state.
(Please do not rely on this communication which does not create an attorney-client relationship and which is intended merely as a discussion of legal principles and is not to be relied upon.)
Re: Claiming grandmother's unclaimed property held by State
YES- you need to have signed authority from the claimant since she is dead you need to open an estate. We have access to the unclaimed property list and could verify the claim for you. Feel free to contact us.
Yours truly,
Francois M. Nabwangu, Esq.
http://fnabwangu.googlepages.com