Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Texas

My Brother passed this month without a will and there are many questions.

He had been unemployed for a lengthy time so he had few assets and substantial debt.

He lived in Texas. He is divorced and still owes the ex about 15k in child support that the state administers... the ex gets his irs tax refunds etc...

He lived with mom, and his possessions in her house might sell for around $1200.00

He had many debts... my guess is around 10k to co's such as citibank, home depot etc..

He has a car loan that is owed about what the vehicle is worth.

He had under $200.00 in his checking/savings account. Mom went to the bank last week where she also has an account and they gave her the money in those accounts. ( they said they could do this because the amount was under a certain limit- I think her name was on the checking account)

Questions:

#1 Do we have to go to probate court and create an estate?

#2 Might the state sue the family to form an estate if only to prove there are no assets for the child support?

#3 Might the creditors sue the family to form an estate? It seems to me they would look at his credit report and see the large debt and be mindful that funeral expenses - that mom paid for - come off the top, and determine that it's probably not worth the effort, but that's just a guess.

#4 As for medical bills...Should we expect to be sued to form an estate for this? he was in the hospital for several days before passing, and with all the testing and ICU care the bill is probably well north of 30k- I don't know what the "payment due from patient" is yet. . It occurs to me that they might not have access to his credit report and will want to see if there are assets.

#5 Does selling, or giving away his possessions, or contacting the note holder of his vehicle to come get the car, or receiving the money from his accounts at the bank, or sending death certificates to creditors - which she has done- make the mother an executor by default with further obligations?

Thanks in advance for your answer.


Asked on 6/29/10, 10:33 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Cheryl Rivera Smith The Smith Law Firm

1. Probably not.

2. No.

3. No.

4. No.

5. Give the car back to the lender. Advise creditors he is dead and has no estate - they can verify the death themselves.

Unless a family member co-signed or guaranteed a debt, creditors can not look to anyone else, other than assets of an estate, to satisfy the debts. Since the estate has no assets to speak of, there should be no need to probate.

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Answered on 7/03/10, 4:21 am


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