Gregg Garth Heckley’s Answers

If there was no beneficiary on the life insurance policy, you need to file probate in order to access the life insurance. If your daughter is the beneficiary and a minor, you will need to file a guardianship for your daughter. Your son could transfer the car title by contacting the Department of Motor Vehicles. He will need a death certificate and the vehicle title or registration. If there is no beneficiary on the bank account, you will need to file probate to access this account.

You will have to pay $50 court costs to reopen the estate. If your mother has been deceased for over 2 years, you should be able to file a Petition and Order for Summary Administration. Summary Administration forms can be obtained from most law libraries. Make sure you pay for a certified copy of the Order of Summary Administration. You will need this order to transfer ownership of the asset. If you mother has not been deceased for over 2 years, you will need an attorney's assistance...

If there is no will, your mom would inherit equally with her brother (your uncle) and you as your mother's heirs or beneficiaries under her will would be entitled to her share. You need to make sure the properties were owned by only your grandparents (not jointly with rights of survivorship with your uncle) and find a probate lawyer. You could go to the property appraiser's website to determine ownership to the homes.

Once the Order Determining Homestead Status of Real Property has been obtained, the real property is now owned by the beneficiaries and the beneficiaries have the responsibility for maintaining the house. At this point the Personal Representative should not be using estate money to pay the costs of maintaining the homestead.

The bank will not repossess the car as long as your wife is current on car payments. If your wife and her father are listed as co-owners of the car, your wife becomes the sole owner of the car at her father's death. Check the registration to see if your wife's name is on the car title.

It is important to review the terms of the trust to determine what rights you have as beneficiary. If the terms of the trust has ascertainable standards, it may be possible to receive a court court order requiring the trustee to make payment. Ascertainable standards usually include expenses for health, education, maintenance or support. If your credit cards were used for those purposes, you may qualify for reimbursement. The trust would probably not include a provision requiring a pay off...

You can use your existing judgment to garnish money that is to be returned to the debtors although the current practice in Florida is that money is not returned to the debtors in Chapter 13, but instead paid to the creditors as it is paid to the trustee. You would name the Chapter 13 Trustee as a defendant in a garnishment lawsuit. Call the Chapter 13 Trustee to see if garnishment can be expedited.

If you believe the executor has charged excessive fees, you can petition the court to have the fees reduced. You could also object to the executor fees when you receive the final accounting. The court cannot simply release money. Proper paperwork must be filed in order to close the estate.

Unless there are assets to be distributed to your mother through probate, I would not advise your mother to become executor. Probate will cost money and if there is no money to pay attorney fees and costs there is no benefit to your mother. If there are additional probate assets, you would want to wait 2 years to file Summary Administration. If a creditor has not filed a claim within 2 years of death, it is barred from collecting the debt.

You must file an Amended Summary of Schedules and an Amended Schedule D (Secured Creditor), Schedule E (Priority Creditor), or Schedule F (Unsecured Non-priority Creditor) (depending upon type of creditor) with a Notice of Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Case, Meeting of Creditors & Deadlines. You need to have a cover sheet that you need to sign that the Amended Summary of Schedules and the Amended Schedule (D, E, or F) is true and correct under penalty of perjury and that a true and correct copy of the...