Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Re: house and probate

Probate is the legal procedure through which a decedent's estate is administered and distributed, either through a Will or under the intestacy laws (laws that cover how an estate is distributed if there is no Will). If your Mom left a Will, it must be probated and followed, unless she owned no assets individually (all assets have survivors named in the asset registration or designated beneficiaries (like an insurance policy or retirement plan). If her assets were owned in her sole name, there must be some probate when she died, or no one is appointed to handle the estate and the assets cannot be transferred or liquidated. If your sister dies, unmarried and without children, her assets will pass by her Will or by the intestacy laws. If intestacy, and neither parent is living, her siblings inherit her estate. This would also require a probate proceeding. There are legitimate ways to avoid probate and its costs, such as using a trust created during one's lifetime, or naming other people in the asset registration to take as surviviors or designating them as beneficiaries in life insurance or retirement plans. Contact me if you need more information. This is a response to an Internet question and the reply is not to be considered as legal advice or as creating an attorney-client relationship.