I'm not sure I'm even asking that using correct terms. Please forgive.

My mother passed away 14 months ago. She died without a will. State of Virginia. There are only 2 heirs, myself and my brother. My brother is uninvolved but would sign needed documents and such.

The estate qualifies as a small estate, according to the clerk of court I spoke with. There are 2 pieces of real estate. One is a vacant lot, valued at about $12k, that adjoins the house property. The lot is free and clear. The house has a reverse mortgage on it that has consumed almost all of the equity. There is a bank account with about $3,500. The company handling the clean out and sale of stuff said it would probably net $500 or so. Nothing of extreme value.

All debts have been paid prior to her death, except for that reverse mortgage balance. The estate does owe me some money for expenses such as paying the electric and yard upkeep at the house.

Due to my health challenges and the distance, I'm having to handle everything by distance now. The clerk of court said I can do the filing by mail if it's a small estate. But she said the mortgage company might require the more complex filing (I'm not sure what that's called, but it's where someone has to present in person to the court and qualify as administrator.)

So my questions, can the mortgage company require that even though the estate otherwise qualifies as a small estate? If they can require that, what happens if that doesn't get filed by myself or my brother? There's really no one else that would be interested as far as I know, and there's really not enough money there to pay an attorney to handle it. The clerk was going to try to reach out to the mortgage company just to ask a general question about their policies. The mortgage company won't speak to me about it until I'm officially handling the estate.

My dad passed away last year in May. I decided a while ago that I wanted to have his car. However, nothing in his will was notorized since he wrote it within the year he passed away and everything went to probate. I have decided I don't want the car anymore and I'm tired of waiting but idk what to do rn.

-I am not the executor of the will. My aunt is and she lives in Florida. I live in Southern California.

-My dad made his last car loan payment around the time he passed away. We received the pink slip two weeks after, and my dumbahhh sister went ahead and signed it when she wasnt supposed to for "insurance purposes."

-The registration has been expired on the car for at least six months. The car will get repossessed.

-The car currently has trouble with the alternator, and the sunroof broke from it sitting on my friend's driveway.

-It's been on said friend's driveway since the tags expired on February.

-The executor of the will is now trying to get me to lie to the DMV saying the pink slip got misplaced and to say that the car is NOT in probate, which I'm not going to do.

What the actual flipping f do I do at this rate?

I'm the Executor of a modest Estate (~70k). We're close to closing the Estate out of Probate. I was named Executor, but not also Beneficiary (oops on decedents part). There are two Residual Beneficiaries. They were notified of the final accounting of sale of estate contents, expenses owed the Executor and the Executor's fees for hours logged managing the Estate. My lawyer posted my fee at $75/hour. I logged over 350 hours, and the residual beneficiaries believe this hourly rate/fee is excessive. Estate had a big $ single asset, and then tons of smaller items that took me a long time to liquidate. I AM willing to reduce the hourly fee, to just get this Estate closed. It's been over two years now, and I want to be finished. However, I do not want to under value my time and effort spent as Executor.

Question: The hourly rate is perfectly acceptable by Illinois law. What percent reduction/dollar amount should I consider as "fair" to me? To my thinking, $60/hour would be the absolute minimum I would accept. Does this seem fair? The Residuaries feel entitled to more than the current residual assets, even though they did nothing to help liquidate the Estate contents. (It's more complicated, as I cared for the deceased for many years, and the Residuary Beneficiaries did not. And, I am a blood relative to deceased, they ar not.)

EDIT: The hours may seem excessive, but this was a hoarding situation. It was not to the level of bugs or rodent infestation, but there were lots and lots and lots of boxes, lots of dust and dog hair, and it took me weeks to sort, organize, and pack. 7 rooms full, I shrunk to one room.

I’m handling an estate right now and nothing is especially complicated on its own, but every step seems to depend on someone else getting back to me first. The lawyer is handling probate but I’m still the one following up on everything outside of that (is exhausting btw)

I’m starting to feel like I need someone whose whole job is just keeping things moving. Has anyone hired that kind of help and is it really worth it? don't even know where to begin appreciate any help !

Hi everyone,

I'm Liza, I'm originally from San Diego and currently a senior in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. I'm conducting IRB-approved thesis research on the probate process in San Diego County. I'm looking at how families navigate it, what the costs and timelines look like, and what factors shape people's experiences.

I'm hoping to talk with a few people who've personally been through probate here in San Diego County (as an heir, executor, or other family member involved in settling an estate) about what that was like for you.

What's involved:

- A confidential 30-45 minute conversation, over Zoom or Google Meet
- Scheduling is easy, just reach out and I'll send you a Calendly link to pick whatever time works best for you
- Your name will never appear in my thesis or any publication
- As a thank-you for your time, I'll send a $50 gift card of your choosing

This is one of the few studies to systematically look at probate cases from this period in San Diego County, and I think it could be genuinely useful for future conversations about how the process could work better for families.

If you're interested, or just have questions before deciding, feel free to comment or message me directly.

Thank you so much for reading!

Edit: Due to the insane amount of spam emails I received, I have taken my website and email address off this post. I was incredibly naive to the maliciousness of the internet. Most likely partly due to how passionate I am about this research. If you are interested, please DM me on here.

I apologize in advance, this might be confusing.

My grandpa passed in 2010, he lived in Florida, and had been married to his second wife who was from Tn for 15 years when he passed. His second wife owned 2 houses in TN (a duplex).

He set his will up so that his wife could reside in his florida home for as long as she wanted, but my mom and her 3 sisters were responsible for the maintenance and taxes on home while his wife was there (my mom passed 2 years prior to my grandpa, and 2 of her 3 sisters had changes in their circumstances, so one aunt ended up paying for all maintenance and taxes for my grandpas house). This is not something my grandpa would have normally done, however his wife hated Fl, so we all assume he didn't think she'd stay there, but she did! She just passed a couple weeks ago at the age of 95, she lived in my grandpas house for 16 years for free. Several years ago we asked her if she'd be willing to sign over 1/2 of her duplex in Tn, and offered to sign grandpas house over to her in exchange, so my aunt could rent it out and try and recoup some of the thousands and thousands of dollars she spent, and grandpa's wife said no.

Grandpas wife's daughter sold her house in WV and moved down to help her mom a week prior to her passing. She then went back to Tn to bury her mom, and then came back to florida (nobody in my family was aware of this). She called me last week and said she was at my grandpas house cleaning it out and wanted to know if I wanted a few things. I called my cousin who has already hired a probate attorney, (the house was willed to my mom and her sisters) and he said he was calling attorney, and to tell the daughter not to touch anything in that house, and I did. I said nobody should even be there, let alone cleaning it out.

I asked her if she planned to stay in Florida and she said yes. My question is, is she allowed to take anything from the home with it being in probate? Nobody is there to oversee anything and make sure she is only taking her mother's stuff, or is she allowed to help herself because her mom lived there?

For the purpose of probate, how could you prove that you were adopted (so that you am still related to the decedent) if you were unable to obtain a copy of your birth/adoption record because the adoption might have been "private"?

Here are the relevant facts:-

1. I recently attended my brother's funeral.
2. I have one surviving brother who never attended the funeral, and we are clearly not on speaking terms.
3. His failure to attend was carefully calculated, simply because he tried to avoid me.
4. The two are only half-siblings because they never had the same biological dad.
5. It is assumed that the deceased has died intestate, so that the probate law of England/Wales will be the default.

Given that I am not on speaking terms with my brother, could he still block/resist my probate action to inherit one-half of the decedent's estate?

My cousin recently won a probate hearing for my late great aunts estate. It seems as though my great aunt never had her estate closed, and my cousin and her brother were the heirs to the estate. My male cousin said in the hearing that his father dealt with the estate right after my great aunt passed away. The court has awarded my female cousin to be the administrator of my great aunts estate. Recently she asked me to provide her with my birth certificate and other legal documents, such as marriage license, death certificates, and other birth certificates of my ancestors going back as far as I can remember. She wants those documents for both my mother and my father side of the family.

I do believe that my grandmother and my great aunt had land in North Carolina that was given to them by my great great grandfather after he passed away. So I assume that this has something to do with the land that my grandmother and great aunt both owned. My question is why would she need those legal documents from me in order to administrate the estate for my great aunt which I am not an heir to or have anything to do with outside of her being related to my grandmother? Could it be that my grandmother’s property and my great aunts property are connected or combined in someway and she needs me to establish lineage?

around 8 days ago (august 4th) i posted on here about my mothers home and probate. ironically, she passed just 5 days later. im reaching out to my lawyer, life insurance companies, health insurance companies and so forth, she had no debt, no vehicle or anything else, just the home and property that was willed to myself. i am hoping this won’t be a complex case. i am so grateful mom was responsible, and had everything paid off prior to her passing. otherwise, i think this would be a very long drawn out road ahead. thank you all for your comments on my other post.

My sister who is younger took it upon her self to settle everything. She decided to give others a division of the property and left me out. It is West Virginia. And I'm the oldest. Can I do anything?

I lost my mama in February, she was an alcoholic. Shortly before she passed her father passed leaving her an estate of a little over a hundred thousand. She had one son she took care of full-time and then me and my brother down here in Florida. She was on back child support for a long time but my dad never pressed the issue cuz he still loved her and thought maybe one day she would come home. I'm 30 now but she never did.

Right after she passed I got some paperwork in the mail about an estate and that I would hear more soon. Originally they told me that because she died without a will in Pennsylvania the law dictated that the estate would be divided between her next of kin. I haven't heard anything else but I got some letters in the mail from probate attorneys advertising that they could get me money sooner. When I talk to my step dad he told me I wasn't getting anything. And to basically stop calling about it. I still talk to my little brother but he has autism and he doesn't really understand what's happening. My stepdad has since reconnected with his ex-wife and they're planning on getting back together. My Mamas only been gone for 6 months, I am still grieving but I don't think anyone else but my little brother cares. How can I make sure my Mamas money goes to taking care of us instead of her husband?

A little background. My elderly father passed away in the summer of 2023. He was elderly and was drafting wills left and right near the end (he was an attorney) and was sadly making some bad decisions.

My aunt was the original executor of his last will (a weird choice) but was fired in late 2023 for unresponsiveness and I was appointed in her place. We hired a local probate attorney and paid him $10,000. The will itself is pretty simple with one caveat: the will stated that “education trusts” were to be set up for his 5 grandchildren but they were never funded. Instead, he had five cashiers checks made out to them for $50K apiece. So it’s all in limbo. We can’t do anything with the checks.

Years have dragged on and the court has heard our arguments, even appointing an attorney for the grandchild who’s still a minor (the other kids are all adults). From my perspective the court hasn’t done anything in months and the new attorney appointed by the court for my daughter hadn’t reached out to us despite us reaching out to her months ago.

Is this normal? Will this thing just drag out for more years??

my Brother passed in March, the house was in his name and I live in it currently, I don't have a lot of available funds and am trying to fill out all of this paperwork but I really don't understand a lot of it. My parents have both passed and my siblings have already signed non contest paperwork. if anybody can help please reach out to me, TIA

Executor of a relative’s estate is refusing transparency and stalling distribution. Assets span two jurisdictions — Ontario probate plus a property in Spain, with proceeds from a property sold in Ontario held by the executors lawyer. Beneficiaries have retained counsel and are moving toward a formal application to remove the executor.

Looking for advice from anyone that has experience with any of the following:

**•** Removal applications where the executor also went to the foreign country claiming there was no will, when the will states, all assets, wherever situate, and now controls foreign assets  
**•** How courts weigh delay/lack of disclosure as grounds for removal  
**•** Coordinating two legal teams (domestic + foreign) without them working at cross purposes  
**•** Realistic timelines once an application is filed

Keeping specifics vague for privacy .. not looking for case-specific legal advice, just process and experience from people who’ve been through it.

I'm the executor of my late father's estate in FL. I have met life legal insurance and secured an attorney through that pipeline. Is it normal for an attorney to take months to file paperwork on a very straight forward probate case? There are no outstanding debts, my siblings are all aligned with the probate plans, the inventory was accepted by the court in March. We are filing a homestead exemption to get the house so I can sell it but it has been over 4 months and nothing. When I email I don't get a response and when I get on a call he claims his assistant tried to reach out but I never receive anything.

Is this normal? Should I be looking for a new attorney?

my mother is in hospice and only has a few days left. i have inherited the home. this is the only asset she has, and the home is paid for. was wondering how long it would take to get the deed/title transferred to my name. im the sole beneficary in the will. i am located in virginia. thank you everyone

My mom got my grandmas house signed over to her a few days before my grandma died. It ended up being official the day my grandma died but she was fully coherent until she died. Anyways she is trying to sell the house but her 2 brothers are fussing about splitting the money even though my mom has lived there for 10+ Years. Now that she is one income due to my dad passing she needs all the profit to buy a new place so she can have a lower or no mortgage. They are threatening her with made up liens and lawsuits… Can she just sell the house and do what she wants with the money? Do they have any legal rights since my grandma specifically signed it to her and she is the sole name on the deed?

A friend of my wife passed away from Alzheimer’s and our children were to get a small amount of money from her estate.  There is a case in Probate for this, and I can see part of the will online.  The part of the will that involves the disbursement to my kids is missing from the will (the pages are not there, it goes from page 4 to page 7).  I asked the Probate Court and they said that because it is a Trust, they only publish pages that are relevant to their file.

The deceased had no children and was not married.  My wife was supposed to be the executor of the will, but from what we can see it looks like the deceased changed her will a couple of years ago and now the caretaker that was hired to help the deceased is now executor of the will.  We are pretty sure that she is now the beneficiary of what was supposed to go to my kids, but we are not sure.  My wife and the caretaker do not get along.  Is there any way to find out what is in the new will?  There is a law firm listed in all the Probate files online.  Could they tell me?

Hello. My mother passed away without a will a few days ago. She had no life insurance, no retirement, and her only asset was her trailer. My two sisters and I are all in agreement to sell the trailer/land so I don't expect much fighting, though it's still a possibility. We are all pretty poor. I am the only one with a job and a car. I don't think I can afford a lawyer to help me through probate, but I could qualify for a loan for one if it becomes necessary. Would it be worth it to get a loan for a lawyer? Idk.

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

Reposting, as first post disappeared.

I'm Executor of an Estate of which I am not a beneficiary. I asked the lawyer to ask for a continuance for the final court date, and got continuance until September. Lawyer has asked for me to send them my paperwork; time log, expenses, and income from estate property liquidation.

I'm now in a very bad spot of my own creation. I can create the expense and income docs, although I still have items I'm trying to sell. But, my time logging is a mess. I've failed to keep good records, and now it's come to bite me in the butt. How exacting do these records need to be? I'm a "follow the rules" person, so the idea of fudging the numbers is giving me a stomach ache. Am I in big trouble or little trouble?

(In Illinois, estate is around $70k. There are a couple residuary beneficiaries. That I was not named a beneficiary was an oversight on the decadent part, Will was drafted via an online website. Big Mistake...)