Hi-

I know no one can really offer legal advice here, but I'm hoping someone can point me in a direction, at least.

My father passed away Christmas Eve. He lived in Florida; I live in New York. While I was down there for the last several weeks of his life I had Power of Attorney, but of course that ended upon his death. He had a will and left a very small estate consisting of his condo (assessed value < $18k) and a checking account (<$3k.)

I'm trying to fill out the paperwork (Petition for Summary Administration) required to get those assets transferred to me. I'm the sole beneficiary named on the will. While I was in FL I went to his bank to get statements printed out to file with the County and was told I couldn't have access to the account once I gave them a copy of the death certificate. I didn't give them the DC, since I can't afford to carry his condo maintenance fee and electric bill on my income and they were set up as automatic payments. I suppose I'm in violation of some law there, but I needed access to the account to get the statements the County required. One of many Catch-22s I encountered along the way...

At any rate, after some to- and fro-ing with the Post Office I'm getting his mail forwarded up here and I find that he has some final medical bills and a property tax bill due.

The Summary Administration petition asks about indebtedness of the estate and for me to name the creditors, amounts, etc. (Question to follow ;))

I didn't get anywhere with calls to the Palm Beach County Probate office, since no one there can answer any questions of a legal nature. Understood. I got the name of an estate lawyer down there from a friend, but the value of the estate is so low that he told me in so many words it wouldn't be worth his time or my money. (I don't think he was being snarky; I think he just had had no experience with a similar situation, since even summary petitions are only for estates worth less than $75k, and this is way less than that.)

I'm just going to do the best I can with the paperwork, but what I'm stuck on is whether it would be best to pay his bills out of my own pocket (which I can ill afford) or from his as yet unclosed bank account (and they fine me or haul me off to jail or both) or include them in the petition as "indebtedness of the estate" and open another can o' worms with additional paperwork, etc.

I'm not a resident of Florida and not poor enough to get Legal Aid there anyway, and since I've used up my one Florida estate attorney I'm not sure where to turn next.

My gut tells me to dip into my savings and pay all his bills to avoid further complications with the paperwork and assume that his checking account balance will be transferred to me at some point, but my gut has been wrong before!

Thanks for any advice or just opinions.

-Susan

I can't answer your question about FL law, but I would advise against paying out of your own funds.  Is anyone named the Executor of his estate?  If so, that person can assume authority to pay his bills from his funds.  (Warning!  I am not a lawyer!)  I had someone pass away in my family a few years ago who left a small estate.  The Executor was able to pay medical bills, funeral expenses, etc. from the deceased's account.

I'm sorry for your loss, by the way. 

UbiquitousBubba


I can't answer your question about FL law, but I would advise against paying out of your own funds.  Is anyone named the Executor of his estate?  If so, that person can assume authority to pay his bills from his funds.  (Warning!  I am not a lawyer!)  I had someone pass away in my family a few years ago who left a small estate.  The Executor was able to pay medical bills, funeral expenses, etc. from the deceased's account.

I'm sorry for your loss, by the way. 

Hi UbiquitousBubba-


Thanks! Dad would've been 90 in February, but he was still hale and hearty enough to ride his scooter down to vote in November, so his decline was pretty fast and came as a bit of a surprise.


I left out the part about the Executor, since (of course) there's a wrinkle in that, too. He had named his brother (my uncle Bill) as Executor, but Bill is in ill health and relinquished that responsibility (in writing and witnessed) to me. HOWEVER, until Palm Beach County gives me the official go-ahead, I'm not even the legal Executor, so I don't know if I can pay bills out of Dad's account.


Thanks-


-Susan

Well, IANKIAW (I Am Not Knowledgable In Any Way), but my understanding is that you cannot access his accounts until the court recognizes you as the Executor. 

It may help to call the companies (or individuals) billing your father's estate to let them know that once this is straightened out, they will be paid.  It's possible they may waive late payment fees in this case in order to avoid collection hassels.

UbiquitousBubba


Well, IANKIAW (I Am Not Knowledgable In Any Way), but my understanding is that you cannot access his accounts until the court recognizes you as the Executor. 

It may help to call the companies (or individuals) billing your father's estate to let them know that once this is straightened out, they will be paid.  It's possible they may waive late payment fees in this case in order to avoid collection hassels.

Good point. I'm just trying to take the easy way out and avoid naming them in this "Petition for Summary Administration" altogether, since it seems that will complicate the paperwork further.


Thanks-


-Susan

Please accept my condolences Susan.



I wish I had some helpful advice but I don't. Being a Florida resident I would venture that this situation is not uncommon as there are many families that are up North while the elders are down here.

I can only advise that you continue to seek legal help as there must be someone experienced with this very circumstance.

best regards,
mike

Deepest sympathies, Susan.  Good luck navigating your legal obstacle course. 

Susan,   My condolences to you on your loss.  


Call the Florida bar association and ask for the number of lawyers who work pro-bono or in many cases there are legal associations designed to specifically address the legal issues for people with small cases and little money to hire an attorney. 

Every state has them. You could also ask at the courthouse since they will know and could perhaps point you in the right direction. 


Do not pay his bills and costs from your account.  You are not legally responsible for his debt/bills.  The executor's job is to settle ALL accounts with all people and companies once that power has been conferred by a judge. If possible, you may be able to get the utilities shut off so the bills won't keep adding up. Or have someone turn off the heat so the electric is only a few dollars a month...same with water. Have the cable, phone, trash collection and other non-essential services terminated, and inform them of the death and tell them they will be paid from the estate settlement....do not offer to pay them from your pocket.  Tell them to suspend late fees and interest as well due to the death. 

At death (in most states) the will is entered into probate. A judge will hear the case and in most cases order the property disposed of according to the will. The executor of the will is the person charged with doing this. It involves closing accounts and selling the property and paying all bills and debt due, then disbursing the remaining balance (if any) to the surviving parties named in the will according to the terms of the will. 

Probate can take anywhere from a few weeks to many months. 

My wife's uncle died in September of last year. The people named in the will were informed as to who they were shortly after his funeral. This is March. We are now 6 months after and still have not heard much from the executor of his estate. The wheels of the legal system turn slowly so just be patient. But in your case it also helps if you can call them on a weekly basis..... be nice.... but be insistent that they get this resolved as quickly as possible.  
Another thing that may be useful. Have a conversation with the clerk of the court handling the probate. They can very often provide you the information you need... procedures, forms, expected time delays, and such to guide you through the process. Get the name of the person who is helping you and be sure to ask for them each time you call. While the process of probate is a bit mysterious to us who are not inside of it all the time, it is, in the end, simply a matter of filing the right forms, and waiting on the results to move to the next step of the process and eventually the end is achieved. The clerk of court knows that process.   

Hope this helps.... 




Side note: A buddy of mine was married and divorced 2 times. On his third and subsequent divorce.... (6 total to date... you would think he would finally give up on that whole marriage thing) he decided that he would do all the filings and paperwork himself to save the money and he did..... he said it's just filling out forms and filing them with the court. 

My sympathies Susan.

Thanks for you condolences, all; much appreciated! Sorry for the late reply.

@Guitarhacker: I won't bore you with all the gory details, but suffice it to say that I didn't have any luck finding help from the FL bar association since I live in NY and didn't get much help from the NY bar association since the proceedings are in FL. 

I had actually decided to go ahead and pay his bills before I saw your post since even though I'm not legally responsible for them at this point there's no one else to take care of them and I'd have to pay them eventually anyway. It wasn't that much in the grand scheme of things, and that way I can honestly say that the estate has no creditors.

Dad's will named his brother as executor, but in the event he declined or wasn't able to perform as such he wanted me to be executor. Uncle Bill is ill and declined in writing, so that role will no doubt fall to me. I'm the sole beneficiary of his two assets (condo and checking account) and with no outstanding debts all digits crossed it will be a simple matter. I've already canceled everything except his condo maintenance fee and electricity.

The clerks of the probate court are clearly coached to say they can't answer any legal questions, and even with a very simple question like "On the cover letter it says I should provide the last 60 days of medical bills. Is that as of date of death or does that include bills that came in later?" I was referred to a supervisor who didn't want to answer either, but eventually did. (This was after calling and leaving multiple messages over several days, BTW. I just happened to luck on a human my last call. I know they're busy, but jeez.)

At any rate, I think I've been overthinking this (how unlike me!) since the supervisor basically said (after denying that it was "their" cover letter -- well, I got it from them, so whose was it?) with such a simple form and small estate they don't dig too deep. I realize it will take a while regardless, but at least once I mail it off (and pay the $350 or whatever it is) filing fee, the ball's in their court.

Thanks very much for your time & advice, and I'll post back with the outcome.

-Susan