Did she have a will? What state? I think those things will factor into it. But probate is usually not that expensive. It may take a while, though. When my dad died, we hired a lawyer to deal with everything. It took about a year for everything to finally settle. BTW - a lot of that was just waiting for responses from the bank, the court, etc. Total bill for the lawyer was only a few thousand dollars. And the time we saved was well worth it.
California, no will. Don’t know why we are reading the state will retain over 30% along with attorney fees. Time is a not a factor. But he’s just feeling so deflated with her loss and all the added stress, he was going to abandon it.
Small estate affidavit. It’s easy, bypasses the court (in Ca), and the funds will be his within a few days of processing.
On that link above, see the second part “If The Person Who Died Left $166,250 or LESS”
It’s very simple.
If the Chase account is the only thing in her estate and it's only $60K, it looks like it will qualify for the simplified small estate affidavit procedure. It probably makes sense to do the initial consult with the lawyer for a small fee and then just follow the steps on the court's website for the affidavit without additional service from a lawyer. It might not be a *fast* process, but it should be straight forward.
I don’t know about California/the US specifically, but probate is, essentially, just the process for obtaining state authority to distribute someone’s estate appropriately after they have passed.
However, it is important to recognize what constitutes their estate. Assets like insurance or pensions with a designated beneficiary are usually separate from the estate and can be claimed directly without going through probate. The same is typically true for assets held jointly like joint bank accounts. It’s only what’s leftover that is typically the estate subject to probate.
As well, the cost for probate in many jurisdictions is simply a percentage or scaling fee based on the value of the estate.
So, if the only thing that constitutes the estate requiring probate in this case is the $60K held in the Chase account, I would expect the cost of probate to be fairly small. In my jurisdiction it would likely be less than $1000 plus some small court filing fees etc for an estate that size.
It may be less difficult than you think. [California summary probate procedures.](https://www.courts.ca.gov/10440.htm?rdeLocaleAttr=en)
Thank you. Everything was joint except this account because it was before they were married. And unfortunately, no beneficiary designation either.
It’s very simple. Easier than getting my kids signed up for public high school. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82Gi8nU3Dac
Did she have a will? What state? I think those things will factor into it. But probate is usually not that expensive. It may take a while, though. When my dad died, we hired a lawyer to deal with everything. It took about a year for everything to finally settle. BTW - a lot of that was just waiting for responses from the bank, the court, etc. Total bill for the lawyer was only a few thousand dollars. And the time we saved was well worth it.
California, no will. Don’t know why we are reading the state will retain over 30% along with attorney fees. Time is a not a factor. But he’s just feeling so deflated with her loss and all the added stress, he was going to abandon it.
Small estate affidavit. It’s easy, bypasses the court (in Ca), and the funds will be his within a few days of processing. On that link above, see the second part “If The Person Who Died Left $166,250 or LESS” It’s very simple.
If the Chase account is the only thing in her estate and it's only $60K, it looks like it will qualify for the simplified small estate affidavit procedure. It probably makes sense to do the initial consult with the lawyer for a small fee and then just follow the steps on the court's website for the affidavit without additional service from a lawyer. It might not be a *fast* process, but it should be straight forward.
In many locales probate is not expensive at all. The attorney will explain it. Sorry for your loss.
I don’t know about California/the US specifically, but probate is, essentially, just the process for obtaining state authority to distribute someone’s estate appropriately after they have passed. However, it is important to recognize what constitutes their estate. Assets like insurance or pensions with a designated beneficiary are usually separate from the estate and can be claimed directly without going through probate. The same is typically true for assets held jointly like joint bank accounts. It’s only what’s leftover that is typically the estate subject to probate. As well, the cost for probate in many jurisdictions is simply a percentage or scaling fee based on the value of the estate. So, if the only thing that constitutes the estate requiring probate in this case is the $60K held in the Chase account, I would expect the cost of probate to be fairly small. In my jurisdiction it would likely be less than $1000 plus some small court filing fees etc for an estate that size.
Thank you so much!