Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Texas
I have a friend whose brother died recently without a will. He had never been married and never had any kids. He lived in an apartment so he no assets except a pickup. He does have some money in a chase bank and an IRA and some stock with Atmos Energy. I typed up a Application of Heriship for him to file with the County Clerk and the County Clerk said that would not gain him access to his accounts with the bank. Can you tell me what he needs without having to spend alot of money hiring an attorney. Would an App
1 Answer from Attorneys
You need to be very careful about preparing legal documents for someone else -- you might be practicing law without a license in the State of Texas -- it's a felony & the DA in many prosecutes people. Be very careful!
But perhaps you are worrying about nothing. How is the bank account set up? If the bank account was set up as a joint account with right of survivorship or an account that is payable on death to someone then whoever listed on the account now "owns" whatever is left in the account and there is no will or probate required.
Is the ATM card still "active"? If so, and you know his passcode then you can slowly drain out the account by maxing out the withdraw each day. (A bank teller winked at a friend of mine and suggested that she do this when her brother died suddenly and left no will.)
Another friend got lucky and got a bank VP that eventually felt sorry for her and just gave her the money that was left in her husband's account -- but it was under $1,000 and that was over 15 years ago.
Most counties in Texas have free (pro bono) legal groups that will help low income people. Check the State Bar of Texas website for a pro bono legal group in your county.
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