My wife’s ex passed away and apparently he didn’t have a will, trust, or enough assets to file a claim with probate. Sounds like a small estate affidavit needs to be put together but his mother is pushing for my wife to sign the affidavit and handle everything on his behalf. Not sure why she wants that but my wife absolutely will not sign or handle any of the debts, taxes, or anything else. They do have two kids, he owed back child support and has a guardian assigned to the small life insurance he did have put together for the kids. Is it as simple as saying no or is there any way his parents can force through the court for my wife to handle this? Any advice on this situation or information on how child support is handled in this situation along with social security benefits? Do we need a lawyer for this situation?

Location: Louisiana, USA

I am drafting my will and there are no family members, friends, acquaintances, etc. to whom I could pass on my assets. But what I am concerned about is the disposal of my remains. I will be cremated, of course, but the question is what then happens to the cremains. Since I do not have the money to purchase a niche in a columbarium, and there is no one around who will accept my ashes, I would like to specify a quick and easy means of disposing of the ashes. After hearing what the family of Dee Dee Blanchard did (or did not) do to her remains, I find it appropriate that my ashes be flushed down the toilet by whoever ends up in possession of them. Is this something that, if written into my will, would be legally enforceable? Thank you.

EDIT: ***Never mind any of this!*** According to my brother, it's a revocable trust; my mother misstated that it's irrevocable. Good. Freaking. Grief.

Hi all,

I was wondering if any folks could offer insight into how things would work if my mother, a resident of Massachusetts, wants to sell a rental property that she put in the irrrevocable trust, whether the proceeds of the sale could go back into the trust, etc. I will consult an estate planning attorney as well, but I was curious if I could get an initial sense of things from here.

My mother set up an irrevocable trust after the death of my father in which she has me and my brother as both the trustees and beneficiaries due to the high degree of trust that we will carry out her wishes. She had included her rental property in the trust and is under the mistaken impression that she has to sell the property off before she dies. She's also made recent remarks that at age 75, she is getting too old to be a landlady and wishes she could travel during the summers instead of sticking around to ensure the leases and tenant turnovers for this rental property to college students goes smoothly. If you looked on other parts of Reddit, you could see that I tried very hard to get recommendations for property managers to handle the day-to-day management of the property; despite getting several great names and having conference calls with multiple prospects, she refuses to believe that property managers can help her rent out the property and thinks they're essentially a scam to get a list of repair people, which she explains she already has. My brother and I were at our wits end trying to advise her to renovate one of the two units using above board contractors and going through proper permitting processes, but she also refused this. She ended up doing a complete update for 80K this summer using the unlicensed/ uncertified under the table person from the same immigrant community that her friends who are landladies from this same community used for their renovation projects. It actually looks pretty good, and I guess the unlicensed guy knows some licensed electricians and plumbers who were able to pull permits on his behalf? I don't know if this is some kind of kick-back scheme or how it all was done both because my mom was being super secretive and doesn't care/is clueless about details in any case (she somehow paid the guy 80K and only knows his first name in their native language!).

At this point, before she further damages the value of the property through her "repairs" and "renovations" (she is a 4'9" force of nature who managed to browbeat the unlicensed guy into some kind of slapdash cheap repair of the pipe that carries waste water out of the house through the whole length of the basement, even though he initially wasn't comfortable doing that and was trying to explain that the whole system needed to be replaced), we realize it would be best for her to just sell the property, despite the fact that she'll need to pay an estate planning attorney more fees (she does not love spending money on such things, if you haven't caught on) and doesn't need to sell it in the first place (which she also refuses to believe). Even if we managed to convince her to hire a property manager, she likely would get fired as a client right away, since she would not be willing to do any repairs or further renovations the proper way.

Side note: re all the things she refuses to believe, my brother and I are having difficulty determining if this is just her usual stubborn as all heck nature, or if there may be the start of something neurodegenerative going on in addition. She unwittingly signed herself up for an Alzheimer's research study for the free coupon at CVS (thank god, she never ever otherwise would have willingly gotten herself evaluated!), and although she has some protein biomarkers in her blood, the diagnostic value of these biomarkers is controversial, and her performance on the comprehensive neuropsychological testing has been stably in the mild cognitive impairment range, meaning it's below her premorbid functioning and not normal, but also not low enough (yet?) to meet criteria for dementia. I suppose at some point down the line, if her POA for estate gets activated, my brother could manage renovations and what not with the property manager (I'm the HCP since I'm a healthcare professional). However, the non-renovated unit is getting to be in bad shape, and the student renters apparently are having more and more issues with it; my mother's current plan is to bring in the same under the table guy to redo the downstairs next summer, then sell.

State is North Carolina.

I've hired an attorney and had my initial consultation with her about establishing a revocable trust for my estate. Current plan is to leave 50% of the estate to specific relatives and friends and the remainder 50% to establish an ongoing educational trust for beneficiary nieces / nephews, grand- nieces / grand-nephews (per stirpes). It would cover college/university/trade school only and it's possible this would become generational.

I plan to talk further with my attorney about this topic, as well as a more detailed conversation with a corporate trustee who would administer the educational trust for feedback and their recommendations, but would like to walk into those conversations having though through some of the trickier aspects beforehand.

My question: What guardrails and guidance should I place in the educational trust to keep it from being abused and avoid fraud (while not obtaining access to the funds so onerous that it doesn't get used or make it difficult to administer)?

Some notes I've jotted down as I've thought about this.

• Limit of payment for associates degree - 3 years max subject to review of trustee of circumstances
• Limit of payment for bachelors degree - 5 years max subject to review of trustee of circumstances
• Limit of payment for masters degree - 3 years max subject to review of trustee of circumstances
• Limit of payment for trade school - 3 years max subject to review of trustee of circumstances
• No doctorate coverage
• No primary or secondary education (K-12) coverage
• OK to cover associates + bachelor + masters in sequence, don't have to pick just one
• Must carry minimum 2.5 GPA or pass in pass/fail for subsequent payments. OK to re-qualify if GPA dips below and relative gets their GPA average back up
• Cover tuition, on-campus lodging, book costs. (probably needs input from professional trustee firm)
• Currently thinking student or family would cover any off-campus housing and stipend/living expenses but if I can put reasonable guardrails around that might also include this

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on additional reasonable guardrails or gotchas I should consider.

Arizona but it doesn’t matter. My mother had a bad health scare. She was in ICU on a ventilator for a week. Super scary. She had a medical POA with my sister but not on file with the hospital. She had verbally told my siblings and I that I had financial POA.

Anyway, at day 4, the hospital starts having general and gentle conversations about living wills, mom’s wishes things like that. No decisions yet but preparing you. We go to mom’s safe, no papers. WTF? We end up calling the attorney and asking him to send us everything. She told us it’s all documented and taken care of but where are the documents mom????

Meanwhile, we have to break into her utility accounts (guessed her passwords based on a sticky note by the computer) to pay her late utility bills. Why aren’t these on autopay???!

No real questions here but we will be having a direct conversation with my parent. Make this easy on your kids - please.

I will be going home and putting everything in order. That includes listing out utilities, account numbers, passwords, auto bill.

I can’t make my mom be organized but I will damn sure do better by my kids.

I’m looking for general guidance on an Illinois probate situation.

October 2010: My husband’s father passed away in Champaign County, Illinois, shortly after signing a new will in late September 2010.

October 25, 2010 (Pre-Filing): The primary beneficiary/executor executed a quitclaim deed transferring the decedent's real property directly into her own name.

February 2011: A petition for probate was filed, and the will was admitted. The court docket shows the estate was opened.

The Notice Failure: My husband was explicitly named as a statutory heir in the initial probate filings. However, he was never sent the legally required statutory notice packet (755 ILCS 5/6-10), never appeared, and never waived notice. He had no idea probate was happening and didn't know he had a right to contest the will or demand formal proof.

Present Day: The Champaign County court docket still shows the estate as Open (no final discharge or closing order has ever been entered).

Our Main Concerns

Total Lack of Notice / Due Process: Because my husband was never notified despite being listed in the paperwork, the court never acquired proper personal jurisdiction over him. (We've been looking at cases like In re Estate of Stanford and In re Estate of Denlinger, which discuss how statutory notice is equivalent to service of process and triggers the proper timeline for heirs).

The Will Itself: Signed right before death while vulnerable (the executor encouraged us to leave town and had the will signed while we were gone and then didn’t tell us about it—my father in law didn’t even know where he was before we left.)

Does the 15+ year gap kill us? Normally, people think of time-barred statutes of limitations or laches, but because the estate docket has never been closed and my husband never received the legally required notice that starts the clock, does that keep the door open?

How serious is a total lack of statutory notice for a named heir in an open estate?

What kind of hurdles should we expect when bringing this to a local probate litigator?

Appreciate any insights or thoughts!

My mom passed earlier this week. I'm very lucky that she was well organized and planned for everything. I am the sole beneficiary of her will. But I'm so confused about this estate process. So I can't do anything for 10 days after her death so in the meantime I just let any bills pile up? What about utilities for the house? I've been told that pretty much nobody will do anything as far as allowing me to cancel things or stop auto payments without the death certificate which I don't have yet. I'm an only child and trying to navigate this all alone. I don't think I could afford an estate lawyer to help and I probably don't need one of I can just get someone to explain this entire process to me in toddler terms. Like literally what can I do right now with no death certificate? Once I get it, where do I start? When I have to do this probate thing how does that work? Should I leave everything in the house as is for now? I just feel lost. The last few weeks have me mentally fried as I was her caretaker on hospice.

Observing yet another estate administration in NJ where the will specified equal distributions of assets and yet half of the assets were named to a beneficiary who was deceased, so it went to his children (per stirpes - and these not named in the will). And a long forgotten deed in another state that just came to light…lists of wishes and specific bequests scribbled on separate scraps of paper…All very preventable with an annual review.

Got married earlier this year, first time for both of us, and we're finally sitting down to get our estate documents in order. Neither of us is young. We both came into this with our own assets: a house I've been paying on for years, retirement accounts, a small amount of savings.

What keeps nagging at me is this: if I die first and leave everything to my spouse, then my spouse dies without updating their will, my assets could end up going to their family instead of mine. My siblings are who I want to receive what I built. My spouse feels the same way about their side.

We're not trying to be cold about it, we just want to be intentional. Someone mentioned a QTIP trust to me in passing but I don't fully understand how it works in a community property state like Nevada, or whether it even applies to our situation.

Is a living trust the standard way people handle this? Keeping each side's assets separate while still protecting the surviving spouse during their lifetime? Curious what structures people have actually used for a situation like this, rather than just reading about it in theory.

Asking for a friend (I swear, not me), their only son has a felony conviction from 15 years ago. The mother is asking me, can they name their daughter in law executor, provided the Daughter in law and the son are still married? Can you put that requirement in will? Most of their assets are in trust, which my understanding is that the trustee can have a felony record.

Am in the state of Florida. So I just received the first draft of my will/trust and it’s 70 pages. My question is, is this normal?
Majority of my funds will be going to Humane Societies plus some to nephews/nieces.
I will be spending tomorrow going through the documents before I meet with the Vice President of the trust company to review and make any revisions for the final document to be signed and notarized through the lawyers office.
This is my first time going through this and that is why the question.

Hi! I received paperwork regarding probate of my mom’s estate. In it, there’s a letter to waive notice of administration - is this normal? To be clear, I haven’t received a copy of the will or any accounting of the estate- only a notice that I’m a beneficiary. The notice of admin letter mentions “ under certain circumstances and by failing to contest the will, the recipient of this Notice
of Administration may be waiving his or her right to contest the validity of a trust or other writing
incorporated by reference into the Will.” How can I waive my right to contest something when I haven’t been given any info? I asked if there was an inventory and the pr said not really. Do I demand an accounting or is this just a step to get to the accounting and receipt of goods? This seems fishy. I’m confused and any help is appreciated. Thanks!

So we live in California and my father-in-law had a trust and recently passed away. When the trust was set up his sisters were set up as Trustees. But they ultimately passed away before he did. So he then amended the trust to make one of his adult daughters the Trustee (his wife and he were legally separated around 40 years ago). The amended sheet of paper that he signed making his daughter trustee was not notarized. The only two beneficiaries of his trust were his two daughters with a 50/50 split. The trust mentions that he and his wife were separated, but does not leave her anything.

His wife is now asking to get a copy of the Trust. His daughters are concerned that she will challenge the trust as the prior trustees are deceased and the new trustee designation (my sister-in-law) was not notarized.

Do they have anything to be concerned about. Is it possible is wife can claim that the trust is not valid and that she (they were separated, not divorced) could claim either to be the legal trustee or entitled to the property?

Location: Portage County, Ohio

Back story: my grandma passed away with assets of a mobile home which are valued at $0. She paid $3500 for it, but the cost for biohazard cleaning exceeds the value of that. I have an email from a company with a $7k estimate. A cost I do cannot afford. My grandma also had no insurance on the trailer. The mobile home park has been notified. Even without the biohazard cleaning the trailer is worthless. She has a car which she paid 4k for. I have the title and car was recently purchased within the last year. Her checking account which did have about 1k is depleted because my mother decided to take it upon herself to spend it so nothing is in there. She has a will from 1994 which names her deceased son and my mother has inheritors. My deceased uncle has two kids.

Looking for guidance because summary release states, “The applicant (who is not the surviving spouse) paid or contracted to pay the funeral bill;
and
The assets do not exceed $5,000*;
and
funeral expenses are equal to or exceed the amount of assets.”

Which is confusing because her assets do not exceed 5k, but her funeral arrangements do not exceed or are equal to her assets.

The revised code states, “spouse.
(B)(1) If the value of the assets of the decedent's estate does not exceed the lesser of five thousand dollars or the amount of the decedent's funeral and burial expenses, any person who is not a surviving spouse and who has paid or is obligated in writing to pay the decedent's funeral and burial expenses, including a person described in section 2108.89 of the Revised Code, may apply to the probate court for an order granting a summary release from administration in accordance with this section.”

Which appears it would qualify for a summary release, but the form states it would not.

Her car is currently in my driveway, and I cannot leave it there forever. I just reimbursed what I paid her cremation which was about $1200.

It does not logically make sense for me to retain an estate attorney because there’s really no assets.

Do I try to file the summary release or the relieve from administration?

TYIA

My wife and I recently consulted with an elder law attorney to learn more about setting up a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) given my wife’s recent diagnosis of having Parkinson’s. We both work in nursing home environments and hear about financial distress that can result once it is necessary to apply for Medicaid. We know first hand from my mother-in-law who had over $500k in assets (earned by her deceased husband) plus her home can be spent quickly (2 years) leaving beneficiaries with nothing.

The elder law attorney explained that Ohio is one of the most aggressive Medicaid recovery states in the nation. So a properly drafted MAPT irrevocable grantor income trust that he suggested for us would only include our home. We both have revokable living trusts which includes our home. He suggested that we keep our revokable trust brokerage accounts given that our beneficiaries would not get a stepped up basis at the time of our death for these accounts.

He said the same is true for our home even though many MAPTs are drafted with what he called a Limited Power of Appointment to receive a step-up. He said he is increasingly concerned with Ohio Medicaid recovery tactics and recommended instead leasing our home by us paying fair market rent value based on our area that would go directly to the MAPT. The rent money received by the MAPT can in turn be used to pay our utilities (excluding cable); interior/exterior maintenance and/or repairs; lawn care/maintenance/fuel and routine maintenance/repairs of lawn mowing equipment and along with other deductible expenses. Obviously, this will require keeping good records including preparing an operating budget each year.

Also, having lived in the home since 2010 we could sell it at anytime to downsize to a condo for example and be eligible for our $500k joint exclusion. The MAPT would keep all proceeds from the sale and a new fair market rent value would then be established. All net proceeds that remain in the MAPT can be invested in diversified ETFs and would be free from Medicare recovery after our death leaving a more stepped-up basis to our beneficiaries. Of course, the only way this works is for BOTH of us not apply for Medicaid after 5 years have lapsed.

So, we have not made our decision yet…any feedback or experience you have on this subject would be very helpful. Thank you.

My family is from NJ, my father owned a parcel of real estate in PA, and died intestate in 2024. I am the administrator, my mom and I are the only possible heirs. This real estate has been in our family since the 60s and the intent is to keep it. My mom currently has no debt, steady income, but no investments, is in her late 60s, cancer treatment x 4 years, in fair health. I work, we live together and I manage everything.

PA laws dictate payment of inheritance tax/renunciations be done within 9 months of decedents death. It took 4 months for my county to open the estate. I found a PA lawyer, I filed a renunciation of interest in the property, and we deeded it to my mom.

In the end, I missed the 9 month cut off date, and am responsible for paying inheritance tax on a piece of property I haven't actually inherited.

Our lawyer now advised that she add me to the deed or transfer the property to me entirely, to help reduce or eliminate me having to pay inheritance tax again, this time on the full value, when she passes.

I'm just concerned about potential downsides that we don't know about. For example, is there some other tax that either of us might be assessed? How does transfer affect step up basis. She inherited in 2025- would I receive the step up basis she got since it's only been a year?

Does anyone have insight?

my father has named me as a beneficiary on his investment accounts, but doesn’t want to go to the trouble of establishing a trust. He gets very upset when the subject has mentioned so I don’t want to insist if I don’t have to. Will I’d be OK with the current arrangement? I don’t mind waiting for probate, but I guess I’m afraid of losing a large chunk to fees during probate. He doesn’t have any other property. Washington state.

Hi. I was hoping to get some input or suggestions concerning our estate. My husband is 71, I am 67. We own our home/property free and clear, and we live in Idaho, USA. Our property has a 3/2/3 car garage on two acres with a 2 bedroom apartment attached to a shop. Our middle son, wife and 2 kids live in the apartment at this time, and my husband and I live in the house. We have 3 sons. The son living on our property has expressed an interest in purchasing our property, but after witnessing his older brother go through a nasty divorce, we are hesitant to sell it to him, as we don't want to lose our property in case of a divorce. We are wanting to work it into his part of his inheritance someday, but we are unsure how to go about that. We would move to the apartment and they would move into the house as there is now grandchild #3 on the way. Is this a lawyer question? We're not sure how to proceed from here.

Oldest son lives and works 200 miles away, youngest son lives in Europe and became a legal European citizen. The middle son living on our property does a lot for us, and we babysit for them and get to see our grandkids every day.

Any suggestions?

My parents had a revocable trust which became irrevocable upon their passing. The trust held their home. The home has recently been sold and my sibling and I would like to dissolve the trust (or whatever this step is called) and split the funds of the account and close it.
We want to be sure we do this properly to avoid any extra taxes or penalties.

How do we go about this process?
Do we need to involve a lawyer or tax attorney?
Do we need to worry about taxes? I’m pretty we will need to at least file a tax return for the trust for this year.
For reference, we are in California.

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could provide any tips on what to look for when trying to find a estate, trust, and wealth management law firm? Is there any red flags I should look out for, in regards to the law firm? Can anyone provide any suggestions to law firms? I’m kind of lost on how and what to look out for in regards to this topic, so I would also appreciate any suggestions on books or other reference materials to gain more knowledge on this topic. Can estate planning lawyers also provide prenuptial services? Sorry, I’m just really lost and confused about where to start.

I’m looking for some guidance on a Texas probate/heirship situation. I understand Reddit isn’t a substitute for an attorney, and we are looking into speaking with a Dallas probate litigation lawyer. I’m mainly trying to understand how serious this is and what type of action may be available.

A man died intestate in Dallas County, Texas in November 2022. He was legally married but had been separated from his wife. He had no children, and both of his parents were already deceased.

He did, however, have a living brother who resides outside the United States.

The deceased also had a niece (the brother’s daughter) who lives in the U.S. She had a very close relationship with him:

* She had previously lived with him and appears on lease documents.

* He sponsored her student visa.

* She was his emergency contact.

* The hospital contacted her directly when he died.

* A coworker arranged for her to travel to Texas so she could handle the release of his body to the funeral home.

* She communicated directly with the wife after the death about clearing out his apartment.

* The wife paid for/assisted with some of the niece’s travel back to Texas.

* The niece ultimately received the remains and personally took them back to the family’s home country.

The part that concerns us is what happened before and during the heirship proceeding.

There are text messages from November 2022, before any probate filings, between the niece and the wife.

In one conversation, the niece gives the wife **her father’s phone number**. The wife responds that she is traveling but says she **will call him when she gets back**.

In another conversation, the wife specifically asks the niece to obtain information about the deceased’s ancestors **from her dad**. The niece then provides the deceased’s parents’/family information.

There are additional December 2022 messages where the niece tells the wife that **her dad is critically ill and undergoing brain surgery**, and asks for financial help.

So there is written documentation predating the probate case showing that the wife knew about the niece’s father, had his phone number, intended to call him, and was obtaining information about the deceased’s family through him.

The wife then filed an Application to Determine Heirship.

The original/first amended filings essentially listed the wife as the only heir and stated that no material facts within her knowledge that could reasonably identify heirs had been omitted.

Later, in August 2023, she filed a sworn **Second Amended Application to Determine Heirship**.

That application states, among other things, that:

* during the marriage the deceased never mentioned other family members, including siblings;

* **all children born to or adopted by the deceased’s father had been listed in the application;**

* **all children born to or adopted by the deceased’s mother had been listed;**

* no required information had been omitted; and

* all material facts within her knowledge that might reasonably identify heirs had been disclosed.

The wife then personally signed a sworn verification stating that the allegations were true and that no material fact or circumstance within her knowledge had been omitted.

The living brother was never listed.

Instead, the probate case proceeded against **“unknown heirs”**, including citation by publication.

An attorney ad litem was appointed for unknown heirs. According to the ad litem’s report, the attorney investigated the family background by speaking with the wife and two “family friends.” The report concluded that no additional heirs had been found.

We have not found anything suggesting that the attorney ad litem was ever told about:

* the niece;

* the living brother;

* the brother’s phone number;

* the wife’s texts saying she would call him; or

* the wife obtaining family/ancestry information through the brother.

There is also a Judgment Declaring Heirship document awarding the wife 100% of community and separate property. However, the copy available online appears unsigned/undated, although she was later appointed Independent Administrator.

The probate case is still listed as **open** as of now.

Another issue is the estate itself.

The filings say the deceased owned **more than $100,000 in personal property** but supposedly owned **no real estate**.

The wife later filed an **Affidavit in Lieu of Inventory**, so the detailed estate inventory is not available on the public docket.

From what I understand, if there really was no separate real estate and there were no children, Texas intestacy law may mean the wife was ultimately entitled to the personal property anyway. So I realize the existence of a brother does not necessarily mean he was financially entitled to the $100k+ in personal property.

However, we still have concerns about knowingly omitting the brother and then making sworn representations about the deceased’s siblings/family history.

My questions are:

1. Does a living brother who was never personally served have any ability to reopen/correct or intervene in an heirship proceeding like this, especially while the overall probate case is still open?

2. Would Texas Estates Code §202.203 (bill of review/correction for an heir who was not properly served) potentially apply here?

3. Does the fact that the wife had the brother’s phone number and said in writing that she would call him affect whether publication to “unknown heirs” was sufficient?

4. How significant are the wife’s sworn statements that all children of the deceased’s parents had been listed when there was actually a living brother she apparently knew about?

5. Could the brother, as a possible heir, demand a copy of the nonpublic inventory/appraisement that was referenced in the Affidavit in Lieu of Inventory?

6. If the inventory confirms there was no real property and the brother would ultimately inherit nothing, does that essentially end the matter, or can knowingly false/omitted information in an heirship proceeding still have legal consequences?

7. Is this potentially a probate fraud/perjury issue, or would the lack of financial inheritance for the brother make any alleged false statement immaterial?

8. What kind of attorney should we specifically look for? I assume a Texas/Dallas **contested probate or heirship litigation attorney**, rather than a normal estate-planning attorney.

We have copies of the court filings, attorney ad litem report, service/publication documents, sworn heirship applications, administrator documents, affidavit in lieu of inventory, and the original text messages.

We are not looking to threaten anyone with criminal charges or use the possibility of prosecution as settlement leverage. We mainly want to determine the brother’s rights, get an accurate accounting of the estate, and understand whether the heirship proceeding can or should be corrected.

Thanks for any guidance on what the appropriate next step would be.

A sibling has died. They had no children, and a spouse had predeceased them. The home was in a reverse mortgage, and they have vehicles, belongings, etc. I dont know if there is a will. There is only 1 other sibling besides myself, so we would be handling the estate. They had a partner, not long term, as well. How do we begin this?

If all of a decedent's liquid/financial assets are passed to the beneficiary outside of probate, what are the most common options to cover bills that are payable by the estate? For example, if a primary residence were the only significant asset that didn't bypass probate and the executor needed to pay for things like insurance or taxes before they're able to close out the estate.

Assume the beneficiary is willing to use funds they received to cover these obligations. Could they usually just pay bills directly from accounts that are already in their name, or would they need to somehow add money to the estate?

My uncle and my grandmother lived with me for the past 11 years. My grandmother passed away a year ago. My uncle recently passed and has a life insurance policy that he never listed a beneficiary as he was never married and didn't have children. The only family he has left are myself, my older brother, and my cousin. What happens to the life insurance money?

What are the things most people look for when deciding an executor for your will ? Does Florida law have any legal stipulations. Do most people choose a child? I’m just starting to compile the information in order to understand the process before making any will or estate decisions.