Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Re: Probate will

You may not need to probate the will or have an administrator appointed if the

only assest of the estate is the house and the will passes the decedent's

property in the same way it would if he or she died without a will. If that is

the case, then the distributees (heirs) may transfer title to the house without

a court appointed fiduciary. However, if a distributee is a minor or

incompetent the matter is much more complicated. If there are assests titled solely in your father's name that exceed $20,000 in total value, you may be required to probate the will.

Re: Probate will

1. It is not 100% necessary to probate an estate if the size of the estate is under a dollar amount. However, if there is a house involved, it is wildly unlikely that you are within that jurisdictional amount.

2. You will need authority to transfer assets out of the name of the deceased into your own name and to the buyer of the house. The usual tool to accomplish that is 'letters of probate' and 'letters of executorship'.

3. I am assuming there are no tax consequences to the distribution now, but you may need a 'basis' for the property later for tax purposes. Without the chain of custody provided by testate distribution (with a will through probate), that may be a problem.

Probate does not need to be as expensive as it was years ago. Many lawyers (me included) will process an estate for a fixed fee and not for a percentage of the estate (as was done in the old days).

You are welcome to a consultation for no fee. Email is best for an appointment.