No next of kin

[buckeyefarmer]

If a relative dies with no immediate family, and no will, what's the process for settling the estate? This is in Michigan, moms cousin passed, has no kids. My family each got a letter from a company saying they would take care of the estate for a 25% cut. That was our notice that she had died......... This was fedex delivered, sent the day after she died.

 

[turnkey4099]

If a relative dies with no immediate family, and no will, what's the process for settling the estate? This is in Michigan, moms cousin passed, has no kids. My family each got a letter from a company saying they would take care of the estate for a 25% cut. That was our notice that she had died......... This was fedex delivered, sent the day after she died.

Ambulance chasing lawyer(s). See your local attorney for the details on what happens. Most simple estates do not require much "lawyering"

 

[Sigarms]

Ambulance chasing lawyer(s). See your local attorney for the details on what happens. Most simple estates do not require much "lawyering"

My uncle passed away who lived in the "family home" (home my grandparents bought when they came off the boat in the early 1900's). No will. It was a total cluster fiasco with my father being the executor.

The only advice I can offer is to walk and stay away if you don't need the money or there isn't anything of family value that you know you would like to keep.

My dad keeps saying he shouldn't have gotten involved, but was "elected to do so" by the family and lawyer due to his close location to the home.

 

[Groo]

My $0.02; get a local lawyer, but not that one.
If the estate wasn't somewhat significant, that ambulance chaser wouldn't chase.
Contact the other family members to agree on a 3rd party to disperse the estate evenly.

 

[Sigarms]

Contact the other family members to agree on a 3rd party to disperse the estate evenly.

This is where the potential fun begins... getting the family to agree on something

Sorry, just been an executor myself which was an ordeal itself being I was 400 miles away, and although I might of missed some things being an only child, one thing my dad has made easy for me is what goes where when he leaves this earth.

 

[bunyip]

Most deceased estates here cost from $5k to $20k depending upon complexity, 25% sounds excessive especially if a house is part of the estate, not familiar with your real estate prices but here you don't get much for under $400k or a wreck for $250k.
Sounds like no win no fee litigation, if you win you lose 50%.

 

[Logan]

My aunt died twenty years ago in NC with no will. She had a brother (my father) and sister who lived to adulthood. Her only living sibling 9my aunt) got 50%, and my brother and sisters got 50% (five of us). My brothers and sisters did nothing. The estate was divided by the probate court. No lawyer was involved as far as I know. If someone contests the division it gets cumbersome, and lawyers get most of it....

 

[quicksandfarmer]

It varies enormously depending on state law. The big questions to start with are what your state law says, how big the estate is, and who the living relatives are. The first question can probably be answered by a competent lawyer in fifteen minutes. The second and third questions may require some detective work.

A good summary of general principles is here:
What Happens If You Die Without a Will? - FindLaw

 

[KennyG]

Each state is different but this happened to a distant relative in Illinois. The court appointed a lawyer who researched and located all relatives. Then the court distributed the estate equally to the nearest relatives. Potential claimants did not need a lawyer unless they wanted to contest the court decision.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Each state is different but this happened to a distant relative in Illinois. The court appointed a lawyer who researched and located all relatives. Then the court distributed the estate equally to the nearest relatives. Potential claimants did not need a lawyer unless they wanted to contest the court decision.

That's exactly what this company does, they investigate and find relatives, and also take care of settling the estate. We dont expect too much money from this, so our inclination is to let them do it. My sister talked to dads lawyer.
There are several relatives, we know most of the genealogy already.
The funeral is wed, two of my sisters are going.

 

[Wagtail]

It varies enormously depending on state law. The big questions to start with are what your state law says, how big the estate is, and who the living relatives are. The first question can probably be answered by a competent lawyer in fifteen minutes. The second and third questions may require some detective work.

A good summary of general principles is here:
What Happens If You Die Without a Will? - FindLaw

As what qsf and KennyG said.

Tassie State government has a service department that will act as an impartial executor... for the standard percentage (10%?) that any executor would receive.

25% is way too much IMHO.

 

[fishheadbob]

My friend got a letter from a lawyer in Scotland telling him that a very distant cousin he had never heard of died intestate there. He thought he had some Scot in him but always described himself as British and Italian. I read the letter and agreed with him it had to be a scam. Two years later he has cashed checks for about $14,000 and there may be one more. The fees were hefty, looks like about 30%, but included paying a geneologist to track down the old recluse's relatives in America, Australia, Great Britain, etc. In this instance the big fees were worth it.
25% for the original poster's case sounds high. Better that the relatives kick this around after the funeral and see how they want to proceed. I had heard somewhere that a simple estate might cost 10% .

 

[Wagtail]

fishheadbob, there was a British 'reality show' series involving a couple of these estate research firms/companies doing this... a 'head to head' race between the two to get the potential inheritance recipients to "sign with them" (and their commission/fee).

Knowing the UK, the various firms/companies doing this would be regulated as to how high the commission/fee would be.

 

[mjarrels]

Prince died without a will, so far the lawyers have taken everything.

mark

 

[buckeyefarmer]

A couple of my relatives involved with this are lawyers, so they are looking into it.

 

[PILOON]

I recently had to settle our mother's estate.
She had everything in a trust and was coerced by them to let them* be the executers.
Fortunately the administrator was honest enough to tell us as to how to get the trust 'un named' as their fees would have been exorbitant.
As executers they are really practiced in huge and complicated estates which mother's was not.

Still it was costlier than it should have been as we attracted a 'not so friendly notary' (honest) due mainly from a bad recommendation.**

*she was deaf and knew nothing about estate settlement, and can just see her nodding with he 'serious face' acting as if she comprehend all while she heard 1/3 of the conversation.

Her will was the simplest possible, her estate evenly divided between the 3 siblings! which by law did not even require a will.
The result was that to 'break the written will' that the trust conned her in doing cost the estate $3000. to break.
The administrator had advised me that their fees probably eat close to $10K the way they were set up and actually advised as to how to 'break' the clause.

** he demanded payement up front and to boot failed to provide proper and complete documents to release the estate.
I took one of us to visit the courts to unearth the necessary paperwork, and that in itself was a tedious exercise due to location and non familiarity of that massive complex.

Then to further complicate things one sibling insisted on untraceable funds so as to not disrupt his welfare status.

 

[TheMan419]

Call an estate/probate lawyer in the big town near where she passed. Most states have specific laws on intestate inheritance that will spell out exactly who gets what %. In Indiana that is all spelled out and if it is under $50K total to be disbursed you do not need to go to court unless there is a fight over something.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

So, one of my relatives found who the court appointed attorney is who will settle the estate (it isnt the one who sent us the letter). Fortunately none of us signed and returned the documents, because for their 25% cut, their only work would have been to cash our inheritance, and send 25% less to us.

The court appointed attorney will take care of everything.

 

[tractorshopper]

I did probate for my Mother. In her county in SC, you do not need a lawyer to go through the process, but she did have one piece of property in Michigan, which did require a lawyer. My dad didn't want to deal with any of it and I was the alternate Executor, so he signed it over to me to handle for him. Thanks Dad. Was a pain the behind dealing with the Michigan property due to some other issues where my Mom's Father's deeds were never issued many years ago during his probate, so had to get it all sent forward from 1986 to catch up the chain of ownership before I could finally get it in my Dad's name. Took me about a year and a half where the rest of the probate for SC would have easily been done in 6 months and most of that was just waiting time for anyone to make some type of claim.

Have 4 brothers and sisters and had to update other items along the way, but they all signed off with no objections and otherwise went smoothly.

My biggest advise for anyone on here to help their kids or NOK is to set up any 401k accounts and insurance policies as beneficiary accounts while you're alive. These funds do not have to go through probate process (unless some huge amount of money like $5MM or more) and are pretty much immediately reassigned with presentation of the death certificate and/or the newspaper obituary notice. One of those accounts that Mom had set up literally changed the ownership while I was on the first phone call with them. While I was talking to them, they looked on the Internet and saw her Obit and did the disbursement by phone, then mailed the check and new forms for Dad to set up his beneficiaries. I just had to mail them an official death certificate and the new beneficiary form. That simple. Did not have to be listed as part of the estate or subject to estate taxes due to the amount of money.

 

[Groo]

So, one of my relatives found who the court appointed attorney is who will settle the estate (it isnt the one who sent us the letter). Fortunately none of us signed and returned the documents, because for their 25% cut, their only work would have been to cash our inheritance, and send 25% less to us.

The court appointed attorney will take care of everything.

Sounds like the absolute best possible news.

Might be worth letting the state bar know about mr. 25%'s actions. sounds amoral at the very least.