Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Minnesota
Non-probate assets
I am one of several child heirs to an intestate estate that is in supervised probate (and has been for over a year). It has come to my attention that there is a non-probate asset being held by the PR (also an heir) in the form of a life insurance payout. Unfortunately, my father, the decedent, named only one beneficiary on the policy, who happens to be the PR. There were wills, but none were deemed valid by virtue of missing legal boilerplate; yet in each version of the invalid will, my father makes a point of saying that although only one beneficiary is named on the life insurance policy, and the same with some stock, the payout is to be distributed evenly amongst his children. Would a petition of some sort work for getting this non-probate asset included in the estate? Does the judge even have any jurisdiction to rule on the asset if it's not beholden to probate? How did this asset become non-probate anyway? Thanks much for any light you can shed on this.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Non-probate assets
Why was the will declared to be invalid? Did you ever bring the will before the court. It is to the PRs benefit not to bring it court. Sometimes these assets can be included in the estate. You have to look at the insurance policies and see how they were origanlly set up.
There may be other remedies; to construe what happened here, contract trust? Your facts need to be developed. You of course could have the court declare them a probate asset but you have to come up with legal reason to do so.
Why would he put the insurance only in one person's name if that was not his orginal intent?
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