Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Washington
Deseased Family Member
former mother-in law just passed
away, had been sick for years, all
children in/out of jail. There's no
responsible adult who can make
decisions. She has a paid for home,
that currently 2 yrs owe back taxes
No signed legal documents can be
found so far, establishing benifesciary of any one regarding inheritance of money/property. Currently now, all adult children in
family (all guilty of theaft while mother was living), are fighting over who's getting what, already
taking items out of house. Is there
any thing under these circumstances, where some kind of
establishing step 1 would bring
civillaty to this?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Deseased Family Member
Somebody needs to commence an intestate probate. That can be you, or one of the other kids, so long as they have never been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude (yes, theft counts). If there is no will each child will take equally share and share alike.
Your wife can petition for an adjudication of intestacy, for appointment as personal representative and for letters of administration.
The court may ask her to post a bond. Bonds cost a fraction of the face value, and can be arranged through your homeowner's insurance company.
Once she's appointed, theoretically she's in charge and can make decisions, such as changing the locks on the estate's house to keep the squabblers out.
The estate assets have to be marshalled, and if there are any unpaid creditors they need to be paid.
This is actually a fairly simple matter, believe it or not.
I can't quite tell where you are, but in or around Seattle, there are plenty of attorneys who handle estates and probates.
Hope this helps. Elizabeth Powell
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