Final Will and Testament

My uncle was like yours, no assets, no will. No one fights over stuff, there is no need for a will. Just talk to your uncle about who he wants stuff to go to. Make sure any accounts he has have a POD. If he has a car make sure someone else is on the title.

If he died without you doing a thing not much would be different.

Granted I am not a lawyer but I have no idea what Sharon is talking about. Your clothes, TV, vacuum cleaner, microwave, are not going to go through probate! Any assets that have value can be structured without a will. My dad was on all my uncles accounts, it wasn't much. There was a couple hundred left after dad paid all my uncles bills. My dad added to it and sent a check for a thousand to my uncles two kids.

This is not complicated.

My cousin died last year. He had several legal documents drawn up. He named me as his personal representitive in his will. He had some valuable things that I hadn't thought would need probate: a gun collection and a coin collection. I will handle those by filing a small probate claim. Everything else, personal belongings such as cclothes, furniture, car I distribute as he stated. He did have investments. Those for which he hadn't listed a beneficiary also has to have a small probate case number before they are released to me for distribution.

If he doesn't have a medical power of attorney he needs one for in case he's not able to make medical decisions for himself.

You can learn how to write a will and get a form on line. If there are yo be multiple beneficiaries you need to be sure what is written covers all property whether or not it's valuable. Death and wills tend to cause controversy.

I learned that one of his checking accounts and one of his retirement investments do not have a beneficiary listed. I have to get a case number from the court before I can collect the money. I learned that any account with a beneficiary is not part of the will. The bank/investment firm pays out directly to the beneficiary.

The personal representitive/ executor pays all final expenses. The will needs to provide the money for that if it's not given directly to someone. My cousin listed me POD, payable on death, on a checking account with enough money to cover expenses.

In Oregon, if your uncle truly has no assets and no accounts in his name only holding money he wouldn't need a will. Belongings valued less than a certain amount are of no interest to the state. A car title can be transferred at the DMV by signing an affadavit stating there is no probate And Iincluding a copy of the death certificate.
I suggest you talk with an attorney to be sure what is needed. Some attorneys will do a brief consultation free of charge.

A friends husband died without a current will and she didn't have to do anything. They joint owned some investments and since she was a co-owner they automatically reverted to her after she sent a copy of the death certificate.

My cousin's cremation in Oregon cost $600 and the office completed the paperwork with the state.

I suggest your uncle needs more than a will. All of you need to know what to expect after he dies and plan for how to handle it now. These answers illustrate that there are major differences state to state.

Oh yes get a will and soon!! Without a will he is considered intestate and his belongings go to orphans court to establish the next in line kin. His personal effects may be lost in translation and landlords often keep them in lieu of rent for "violations of the lease".

A will does not need to be expensive or heavy duty to do the trick, just make certain it is witnessed by some one who is not named as a beneficiary in the will. Try to get it notarized. If he is in his last days, does he have hospice? They can usually help with a lot of this! He also needs a living will etc. It will save you tons of heart ache and aggravation to get this legally taken care of while he is still awake and lucid. It is worth the money to get a lawyer to handle this.

BTW POA does not always expire at his death, it can be expanded to handling his effects but it does not entitle you to keep them, get the difference?

Wills can make things much, much easier. It's not just a matter of fighting over things- when someone dies intestate (without a will) all of their testamentary assets must pass through probate. My dad died suddenly two years ago, and was in the process of drafting a will when he passed away. Even with no fighting, we have just barely closed the estate. I found that it only dragged out the grieving process in a lot of ways.

I highly recommend that you consult an attorney. The few hundred dollars it will likely cost will save you a LOT of hassle. I would also be very, very leery of free online wills. For example, in some states a will must either be in the decedent's handwriting or put together by an attorney. If you print a form and fill in the blanks, without proper certification, the only bits of the will that would pass probate would be the handwritten words in the blanks. But they won't mention that on the website.

In most states, the person drafting the will can name their executor/personal representative. That person has the ability to do things like pay final bills, take stock of items, etc. If your uncle is competent, he can name you (or some other appropriate person) his personal representative.

If he does not have an attorney, you can try going to Legal Aid for assistance, but it's essential that he be deemed competent to sign a will and understand its provisions. The POA applies while he is alive, but you should probably have a health care proxy to make medical decisions (ask his primary care physician if one already exists, and what is specified about heroic measures/do not resuscitate). The executor of the will (whom he will name) determines the disposition of assets, which he can spell out in the will itself or (simpler) a written list which one would hope you would follow but which is not legally binding. In my family, possessions not allocated are just set out on a table or the bed, whatever, and the heirs take turns choosing. That works if everyone's agreeable. And it should all be notarized by someone not connected with the family - most lawyers are also notaries.

In Pennsylvania anyone can write their own will and it only needs to be signed in front of two uninterested parties. Having it notarized is not even necessary. Check the laws though in your state.

FYI...no one would lock you out of his house. Also, if he is only giving away his possessions perhaps he could gift them previous to his death.

Your uncle needs to assign someone as his Executor (man) or Executrix (female) for his estate.

This will allow whoever he assigns access to his estate. The estate being his belongings, checking account, any collection he might have as well as clothes, etc.

Please ensure that he has a will in place - to document to whom he wants what to go to. Get it notarized - helps makes things easier.

When my mom died last year - the stuff we had to go through was not fun. We had to remove her from the title to the house, the car and accounts (investments, checking, etc.) we had to get copies of the death certificate to send to places and take to the bank. Remember his checking and savings account is an asset.

You MUST find out how his final wishes will be carried out and how it will be paid for. Does he have enough money in his checking account to pay for cremation or burial? My mom's cremation in CA was $4K. We needed permits from the county and state (and you had to pay for them) to get her cremated and then the state required a "special" casket to cremate her in....so find out if he has enough to pay for that.

Good luck! I know this is not an easy time.

A final will and testament is needed so that he doesn't die intestate. Without a will, the state can take everything. In his will he needs to name who he wants to be his executor. He can name you executor (executrix for a woman, not that it matters). You don't have to accept the job after he dies, but it makes it easier for his affairs to be handled if you do.

Quite frankly, if he won't sign a will, I wouldn't handle his affairs, but that's just me.

The funeral home will get death certificates for you, and you take one, along with the will, to the court house (it's good to call ahead and get an appointment.) They will look it all over and then get you letters of testimentary. These letters allow you to handle his affairs. They do charge you a feel for the letters. If he has a car in his name, pull up the blue book value for the car and print it out and take it with you. If it's worth over a certain amount, there will be taxes involved, according to what state he lives in.

You will need to take the letters of testamentary to the bank and open up a bank account to take care of his estate. As his executor, you pay his bills out of that account. WHATEVER YOU DO, don't pay his bills yourself and then hope to get the money back. It doesn't work that way.

I'll give you a sad example. A friend of my mom's had her dog boarded at the vet when she went into the hospital. She never came home. By the time she died, it was a $3000 bill. Her sister went to pick up the dog (her sister was her executrix) and the vet wouldn't let her have it unless she paid. She thought that she'd just get the money back from the deceased's bank account, but no, she wasn't able to do that. (And it's illegal to do that, too.) The court told her what the order of payment had to be for her sister's debts (taxes first, of course) and by the time she pays out of her sister's paltry sums, there won't be anything left to pay herself.

The dog stays with her now - that is one expensive dog that sits on her couch!

Have you talked to your uncle about end of life concerns? A DNR? Medical power of attorney? That's very important too. The doctor can give you paperwork to look over.

I wish you luck. It sounds like you need to get this done right away...

If your uncle wants to, he can write his own will by hand. It's called a holographic will and is just as legal and enforceable as one drafted by an attorney. If he's in the hospital, the hospital should have a notary and the nurses can be his witnesses.

A poster below said if he dies intestate the state will take everything. Not sure if that's really true. Here in CA, if someone dies intestate, then there is a "line of succession" that is followed as far as who gets that person's property. In CA, his legal wife would get I believe everything. If not everything, then at least 1/2 and the other 1/2 divided among your uncle's siblings. If a sibling has passed away, then that sibling's children get their parent's share.

In any case, if your uncle wants certain people to get certain things, he needs to spell that out in a will.