If You Can’t Take It With You When You Die, Should the Personal Representative Bother Seeking Repayment?

Responsibility for all of the decedent’s unfinished financial business falls to the personal representative of the estate.  It is the personal representative’s duty to contact known creditors to whom the decedent owed money and to repay or settle those debts to whatever extent the resources of the estate allow.  If other parties owed money to the decedent when he or she died, the personal representative must also contact those debtors and attempt to collect the debts or settle them for a lower amount.

Chasing down unpaid debts costs time and money.  It is bad enough when you are the one who is hurting financially because these debts have gone unpaid, but it is even worse when the impetus to collect the debts is that the beneficiaries of the estate are mad at you about the fact that it is taking so long to get their inheritance.  In the most complicated cases, you must file a lawsuit against the debtor to collect the outstanding debt.  If the value of the estate is substantial but the decedent was involved in lots of financial entanglements at the time of death, it is best to work with a probate lawyer.

Contact Tobin O’Connor Ewing About the Hassles of Probate

A Washington, D.C. probate attorney can help you resolve the debts owed by the estate you are representing, as well as the debts owed to it.  Contact Tobin, O’Connor, and Ewing in Washington, D.C. or call 202-362-5900.

Source:

consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/does-a-persons-debt-go-away-when-they-die-en-1463/

Advice for Personal Representatives of Insolvent Estates

The purpose of probate is to enable creditors to collect their unpaid debts from a deceased person’s estate and for heirs to collect their inheritance, in that order.  Under ideal circumstances, the decedent has left documentation of outstanding debts and the personal representative can easily locate them; the notice to creditors is just a formality.  Careful estate planning can leave the estate with minimal debts, so that the debt payment process resolves quickly and the heirs can receive their inheritance.

If an estate is insolvent, it means that the debts the decedent owes are greater than the value of the assets he or she owned.  In that case, the beneficiaries of probate are the creditors, not the heirs listed in the will.  If you have been appointed as the personal representative of an insolvent estate, you should hire a probate lawyer.  Your lawyer may be able to help you settle the debts for less than the creditors are asking, so that there will be some money left for the heirs to inherit.

Does the Family of a Person Who Died Insolvent Really Go Away Empty-Handed?

Maryland probate law indicates the order of priority in which the personal representative of an insolvent estate must satisfy the estate’s financial obligations.  The creditors that file their claims first are usually the ones that get paid first and in the greatest amounts.  Before the personal representative pays any debts to creditors, though, he or she must pay the family allowance if the decedent is survived by eligible relatives.  The surviving spouse is entitled to $10,000, and if the decedent’s children are minors, each minor child gets $5,000.  In other words, if the decedent was single or widowed or if the decedent’s children are adults, the family does not get an inheritance.

Contact Tobin O’Connor Ewing About Insolvent Estates

A Washington, D.C. probate attorney can help you settle an insolvent estate, whether or not the decedent wrote a will.  Contact Tobin, O’Connor, and Ewing in Washington, D.C. or call 202-362-5900.

Source:

mdcourts.gov/orphanscourt/faqs

Broke Chumps Have the Last Laugh With Small Estate Proceedings

A small estate proceeding has the same main components as full probate, but it moves much faster, because the value of the estate is smaller.  In a small estate proceeding, the personal representative must file the following documents:

• Petition for small estate proceeding
• The decedent’s will, if the decedent wrote one
• A list of the decedent’s known assets
• A list of the decedent’s known outstanding debts
• A list of any pending legal actions to which the decedent was a party

The case then proceeds like probate, with the notice to creditors and the payment of claims, but it generally takes only a few weeks, instead of nearly a year.

Your estate qualifies for small estate proceedings if its value is less than $100,000 and your spouse is the sole beneficiary of your estate.  If you do not have a surviving spouse or if someone other than your spouse is a beneficiary of your estate, then your estate only qualifies if its value is below $50,000.

Small Estate Proceedings Are for Rich People, Too

As every estate planning lawyer knows, your “estate” is not synonymous with everything you own; your estate consists only of your assets that go through probate.  A main goal of estate planning is to categorize as many assets as possible as non-probate assets, which means that they will pass directly to the beneficiary after you die, even before your estate settles.  This can mean setting up a revocable trust and transferring property to it, owning property through joint tenancy with your family members, or designating family members as payable on death beneficiaries of bank accounts.

Contact Us About Small Estate Proceedings

A Washington, D.C. probate attorney can help you if you are the personal representative of a small estate in probate court.  Contact Tobin, O’Connor & Ewing in Washington, D.C. or call 202-362-5900.

The Weather May Be Nicer in Florida, but Maryland Is Home

There is no legal definition of the term “snowbird,” but the term usually refers to seniors who spend part of the year in a state with a temperate climate, such as Maryland, and the other part of the year in Florida or a location with similarly sunny weather.  Florida is an especially popular destination for retirees because it does not have estate tax, which means that, in theory, probate is less expensive in Florida.

After spending an entire winter in Florida, it becomes glaringly obvious that Maryland is home.  Even if you miss out on the part of the year where there are thunderstorms every day and at least one hurricane or tropical storm watch per season, it is obvious that the climate in Florida, meteorologically and otherwise, is just too volatile.  Even if the increasing population of non-native reptile species, from green iguanas to Nile monitor lizards, does not get you, the chances that a Florida Man will sweet talk you out of your life’s savings in furtherance of a crime is much greater in Florida than it is in Maryland.  Besides, unless you are loaded with money, Maryland probate is not all that expensive.

It is your parents’ choice whether they want to make Maryland or Florida their legal home, but they should be unambiguous in their choice.  If you, a Maryland resident, are to be the personal representative of their estate, they should choose Maryland, but if they choose Florida, a Florida resident should be the personal representative.  Their voter registration and driver’s licenses should be in their state of domicile.  If they own property in more than one state, then they should transfer the property in their non-residential state to a revocable trust, so it does not have to go through probate.

Contact Tobin O’Connor & Ewing About Probate of a Snowbird’s Estate

A Washington, D.C. probate attorney can help you if you are the personal representative of the estate of someone who spent only part of the year in Maryland.  Contact Tobin, O’Connor & Ewing for help.

Sources:

hsnowbirdingcentral.com/financial/estate-planning-considerations-snowbirds-travelers/

marylandtaxes.gov/individual/estate-inheritance/estate-inheritance-tax.php

Which Assets to Include in the Estate Inventory

The purpose of the estate inventory form is to inform the court of all the assets belonging to the estate of the decedent, since these are the assets that the probate court will use to satisfy the decedent’s outstanding debts, if any, and which it will eventually distribute to the beneficiaries at the end of the probate process.  In other words, it is the financial disclosures stage of probate.

If the decedent’s will included up-to-date details about all of the decedent’s assets, or at least indications of where to find up-to-date information about the assets, then the task of preparing the estate inventory is much simpler.  If the will simply says something along the lines of, “My daughter Amy, my son Blake, and my brother Carl are to inherit equal shares of my estate,” then you have a more difficult task of figuring out exactly what the decedent owned.

On the estate inventory form, you should list all of the decedent’s assets except those specifically exempt from probate.  You should list the decedent’s real estate properties, bank accounts, business holdings, investment accounts, life insurance policies, and annuities, whether these assets are in Maryland or elsewhere.  If the decedent was owed money from an employer or from someone to whom he or she had lent money, also include this information on the estate inventory.

Which Assets Do You Not Have to List on the Estate Inventory Form?

The estate inventory should include probate assets only.  One of the cornerstones of estate planning is to organize your assets so that some of them do not go through probate, since they are not legally part of your estate.  If the decedent held assets in trust or designated payable on death beneficiaries for bank accounts, you should not list these non-probate assets on the estate inventory form.

Contact Tobin O’Connor & Ewing About Estate Inventory

A probate lawyer can help you locate a recently deceased relative’s assets and assess the value of these assets.  Contact Tobin, O’Connor & Ewing for help today.

Sources:

yahoo.com/video/prepare-estate-inventory-probate-140015086.html

peoples-law.org/estate-administration-step-step-guide-and-timeline

Maryland Only Accepts Holographic Wills in Very Limited Circumstances

Maryland law requires wills to be typewritten and to bear the signature of the testator (the author, about whose property the will contains instructions for distribution) and the signatures of two witnesses.  In the context of probate law, a handwritten will is called a holographic will.  The probate courts of Maryland do not consider holographic wills valid and legally enforceable unless they meet all of the following requirements:

• The entire will is in the handwriting of the testator
• The testator was outside the United States in the context of his or her service in the Armed Forces at the time of writing the will
• The testator and the witnesses were not in any of the 50 states or the District of Columbia when they signed the will (in other words, a handwritten will from a U.S. territory such as Guam or the U.S. Virgin Islands is acceptable)

Outside of these very limited circumstances, the court will not enforce handwritten wills.  In fact, it will not even enforce wills that are typewritten except for a few handwritten addenda or edits.  If you need to amend a few details in your will while leaving the rest of it intact, do not just cross out the offending phrase and hand write the corrections in the margins.  Instead, you should file a codicil to your will, which specifies the changes you are making.  Codicils must also be typewritten and signed in the presence of witnesses.  If there is any room for confusion, it is safer to write a whole new will and indicate in its text that it invalidates all previous versions of the will.

Reach Out to Us Today for Help

A probate lawyer can help you fulfill your duties as the personal representative of an estate, including resolving disputes about wills.  Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. for help.

Source:

registers.maryland.gov/main/faq.html#1.2.3

What If the Decedent Did Not Own Any Property?

If the decedent did not own any property in his or her own name alone, then the estate does not have to go through probate.  For example, imagine that your grandparents house was in Grandpa’s name only, and if Grandma and Grandpa kept all their money in a joint checking and savings account.  If Grandma dies first, her estate will not have to go through probate.

If the decedent wrote a will but did not own any property, the surviving relatives must still file the will with the Register of Wills.  When you file the will, you can find out more about whether you will need to open the estate for probate.

What If the Decedent’s Assets Were of Very Modest Value?

Maryland offers a simplified probate process for very small estates; simplified probate usually takes less than two months, compared to between six and twelve months for regular probate.  Maryland law defines a small estate as one where the assets are valued at less than $30,000.  Estates of up to $50,000 are also considered small if the decedent’s surviving spouse is inheriting the entire estate.

What If the Decedent’s Debts Exceed the Value of His or Her Assets?

Now that almost everyone is in debt, it is unsurprising that some estates come with debts that are even bigger than the value of the decedent’s assets.  If the assets are valued at more than $30,000, the estate must still go through probate, even if it is insolvent.  In this case, the creditors will take what is available, and there will be nothing left for the heirs to inherit.

Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. About the Possibility of Avoiding Probate

A probate lawyer can help you find out whether your deceased relative’s estate needs to go through probate and can guide you through the process if it does.  Contact us today for help.

Source:

mdcourts.gov/orphanscourt/faqs

Is Life Estate the Best of Both Worlds?

Life estate enables the homeowner to provide stability for one family member, while providing another, usually younger, family member or family members with an inheritance.  When you grant someone (called the “life tenant”) life estate in your house, that person has the right to live in your house rent free for the rest of his or her life.  When the life tenant dies, another person designated by you inherits the house; this person is called the remainderman.

The life tenant takes possession of the house immediately after the original owner’s death, thus making the house a non-probate asset.  As a life tenant, you cannot sell the house.  You also cannot bequeath it to anyone else in your will; after you die, the house goes to the remainderman or remaindermen designated by the person who granted you life estate.  You have the right to rent the house out, however, and any rental income you earn from the house is yours to keep and to bequeath to any beneficiaries you choose.  By the time the remaindermen inherit the house, its value will be greater than it was when your life estate began.  In many cases, granting life estate to a surviving spouse and designating the decedent’s children as remaindermen prevents conflict, because neither party is left empty-handed.

Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. About Dealing With Family Conflict in Probate

Life estate determines what happens to the decedent’s house, but it does not apply to any other assets.  A probate lawyer can help you if your spouse’s estate planning efforts, well-intentioned as they were, could not prevent all family conflicts in probate.  Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. for help.

Source:

peoples-law.org/life-estates

Probate Isn’t Rocket Science, but It Isn’t Easy, Either

In the 1980s, Khosrow Akmal wrote a will, and named one of his cousins to act as personal representative of his estate.  This was a wise thing to do; everyone who has minor children should write a will, but not everyone does.  What the elder Akmal did was even smarter, though, because he also listed a friend as successor personal representative in the event that his cousin was unable to perform the task.  His only mistake was not updating his will after that.  When Khosrow Akmal died in 2019, neither the cousin he had listed as personal representative nor the friend he had listed as successor personal representative was able to act in that capacity.  Thus, the task fell to his son Arya Akmal.

The younger Akmal has a Ph.D. and teaches physics at Montgomery College, but even with his talent and experience for making sense of complex problems, he still found probate more challenging than he had anticipated.  The fact that the courts were rapidly changing their operations to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic was only one of the things that made the probate process stressful.

The biggest challenge Prof. Akmal faced in settling his father’s estate was simply that he had never experienced anything like it.  Taking inventory of the assets his father had acquired in the decades that had passed since the will was issued was a much bigger job than he expected.

If you find yourself in this situation, experts advise you to contact professionals who helped manage your deceased relative’s finances; they may be able to help you fill in the gaps to get the information you need to settle the decedent’s estate.  Locating every bank account and investment that your family member owned can take a long time, even if your family belongs to the 99 percent.  Another time-consuming task is determining which of the assets need to go through probate and which can pass directly to the beneficiaries.  If you don’t know where to begin, contact a probate lawyer.  Hiring a lawyer for probate is not mandatory, but it makes your job as personal representative easier.

Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. About Making Probate Painless

A probate lawyer can help you settle the estate of a deceased family member, even if you feel unprepared for the task.  Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. for help.

Source:

cnbc.com/2022/03/24/heres-how-to-settle-your-loved-ones-estate-after-they-pass-away.html

Testator’s Revocation Document Revokes One Version of Her Will but Not the Other

In 1998, Nadya wrote a will while married to her second husband Malcolm.  Pursuant to this will, the main beneficiary of her estate was Denis, her son from her first marriage. In 2002, while her divorce from Malcolm was pending, Nadya wrote another will, which was similar to the 1998 and also left most of her estate to Denis.

Nadya subsequently married Mevlud, but their relationship was turbulent and they went to court several times because of domestic violence allegations and divorce proceedings, although they remained legally married until Nadya’s death in 2017.  In the last year of her life, Nadya issued a signed document stating that she revoked her 1998 will; she also drew an X across every page of the 1998 will and wrote “revoked” next to her signature on it.  The revocation document did not say anything about the 2002 will.  She also issued a deed stating that she and Mevlud owned the condominium where they lived as tenants by the entirety, which meant that the condo would not become part of her estate upon her death.

During probate, Denis asked the court to administer the 2002 will, but Mevlud argued that, due to the revocation document, Nadya had died intestate.  Eventually, the appeals court ruled that the 2002 version of the will was valid, so Denis inherited most of his late mother’s property.

Let Us Help You Today

A probate lawyer can help you if the heirs to an estate disagree over whether the testator legally revoked their will.  Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. for help today.

Sources

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4051257315571262620&q=probate+condominium&hl=en&as_sdt=4,21&as_ylo=2012&as_yhi=2022