Walk It Through: After Mom Died
A lease with time left, a will in a desk drawer, a bank account, and a cousin's doubts.
A mother dies with most of a year left on her apartment lease. Her daughter is her only child.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One parent and one child. Debts larger than the estate, real estate, a contest over the will in court and other heirs 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.
- By representationThe way descendants share an intestate estate, with the descendants of a child who died first taking that child's place.
- Elective shareThe percentage of the augmented estate a surviving spouse may take instead of what the will or intestacy gives, rising with the years married to 50% at fifteen years or more.
- IntestateDying without a valid will, so the estate passes to the spouse and relatives in the order the code sets.
- Custodial responsibilityThe time a child spends with each parent. Unless the parents agree otherwise or it would harm the child, the court allocates it equally (50-50).
- Authorized successorThe successor who files a small estate affidavit and is certified by the county clerk, and who has a fiduciary duty to pay creditors and pass the assets to those entitled.
- Small estateA probate estate with personal property worth not more than $50,000 and real estate in the state worth not more than $100,000, which may be handled by affidavit where there is no probate real estate.