Probate for death in the family?

[TheFied]

My father-in-law passed away and he is survived by his wife and 2 kids. Everyone involved wants everything to go to his widow. This estate is < $500,000 (house paid for, life insurance, bank accounts).

Do we need to go to probate? Since TX is a community property state, do we need to do this? Their financial advisor, who managed their life insurance/investments, said he wanted to.

What are the plus/minus of doing so? Estate taxes, death taxes? We just want everything to be in my wife's mother's name.

 

[midtown]

Did he have a will? If so who is the executor?

Anything that isn't done by beneficiary will need a probated will. Probate in Texas is very very easy.

 

[TheFied]

There is a will and we just looked over it and it looks like the widow is named as the executor. The will states that everything goes to the widow.

 

[midtown]

Get the will probated. Have the letters of testamentary approved by the judge for her (if she is mentally and physically able to) if not you might consider the second executor. Most places will simply want a copy of the death cert, letter of test, and a letter of instruction from the executrix. No tax on a $500k estate.

 

[TheFied]

In reply to:

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[Drew Shirley]

After you apply for probate, the judge will issue the letters testamentary to the executor, giving her the power to administer the estate. in this case, it doesn't sound like there would be much to do other than file an inventory with the court.

If there are no debts other than real estate mortgage, you can probate the will as a muniment of title only. PM me for more info.