Walk It Through: The Estate And The Bills
No will, a small estate by affidavit, the creditors' deadline, and a crash that caused the death.
A husband dies without a will, leaving a wife and grown children from the marriage.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One family after one death. The house and its title, life insurance, joint accounts with survivorship and estate taxes are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Community propertyProperty of the marriage, which in a divorce is divided substantially equally unless there are compelling reasons otherwise, and at a death without a will passes in the deceased's half to the surviving spouse.
- IntestateDying without a will. The surviving spouse takes the deceased spouse's half of the community property, and a share of the separate property that depends on whether there are children or parents.
- Small estate affidavitThe affidavit by which a successor collects a person's money and property thirty days after the death, where the estate is worth no more than $100,000 and no administration is pending.
- Wrongful deathA death caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another, for which the heirs or the personal representative may sue within two years.
- Notice to creditorsThe notice a personal representative publishes once a week for three successive weeks, telling creditors to present claims within four months of the first publication or be forever barred.