Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina
My mother just passed away. She lived in NC (as did I). I am the executor of her estate. Because she had dementia, I was listed joint on all of her accounts (her as primary) to help with her financial affairs. So I have acecss to all bank accounts she had (total of all cd's, etc.... was around $400,000. She had already given away almost all of her other assets other than maybe a diamond ring worth $1k or so and a few small items (perhaps a couple thouisand dollars worth of other assets or so). The life insurance she had was not quite enough to pay for her $12k funeral cost. Do I need to file probate? www.nolo.com say "probate court proceedings are required only if the deceased person owned assets in his or her name alone. Other assets can usually be transferred to their new owners without probate". So it sounds like I do NOT need to since I already am on all the bank accounts. I have two brothers that the will says I am to split all assets equally three ways between my brothers and I. So I was just having the bank close the accounts and issue the checks three ways equally to my brothers and I.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Nolo is great for general advice. However, you should not rely on it for anything state specific like this. Every state has their own probate laws.
The answer to your question is "it depends." A lot of things dictate whether there should be probate or not - not just ownership/title of property.
Does your mother have outstanding debts? There is not enough to pay her funeral bill, so how do you plan on paying for that? Joint bank accounts can be reclaimed by an estate necessary to pay any other debts. What else is there?
What about other siblings? And you cannot do what you propose with the bank accounts. If you do, you will have been deemed to make a gift to your brothers of the money and if you gift over $13,000 to any person per year you are going to have tax consequences to YOU because you are the donor. Besides, money in joint bank accounts go to the survivor on the accounts which is you. Your mother's will has no bearing on the disbursement of these funds because they are not probate assets.
Please, see a probate attorney who practices in the county where your mother resided.
NC is not a bad place for probate - the fees are very reasonable and there is even a simplified process for very small estates - which this would be but for the bank accounts, which are not part of probate.
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