Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

If there is no property that was not jointly owned with your mother, there is no practical reason to file a probate petition.

You should have no problem with the house provided the ownership was joint with rights of survivorship.

If however, you were tenants in common, her half of the house would need to be probated. You can easily check the language on the deed.

I agree with Arnold, but I am a little confused by your facts. Are they talking about some probate proceeding, or a possible death tax filing? If you were the survivng joint owner of both the checking account and the house, as joint tenants with right of survivorship and not a joint owner as a tenant in common, no probate proceedings has to be filed for you to claim ownership of those assets. This does not mean that there might not be a possibility that the estate is responsible for death taxes, which has to do with the net value of the estate. All of this also presumes there are no other legal heirs who might have a claim to the estate, or there are no other assets in the estate (like personal property (household furniture and property, jewelry, a car, etc..) that might require that someone be appointed to handle those types of assets.