My grandmother died without a will, must it go to probate court?
My grandmother passed away with no known will last month. She has no surviving spouse or siblings, just two daughters (and four grandchildren). Since she died without a will, must the estate go through probate or can her estate be divided amongst her two children without going to probate? This is in Arkansas if that matters. Her house was in her name and one of her daughters names.
My aunt said if the estate can be split amicably there is no need to go to probate, is this true?
You should consult an attorney in Arkansas. Generally it must be probated if it was in her sole name. If the house was joint it probably will not require probate for the house but there may be other assets to probate such as bank accounts and investments. So, the bottom line is you should contact an Ark. probate attorney.
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If she has an estate that is worth less than 100,000 you can file an Affidavit of Real Property and go that route, see an attorney!
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Not if there is no outstanding debt.
The best case scenario is for all his blood heirs to agree on the distribution of his estate and somehow agree together on a plan to get any outstanding debt paid ASAP! Then probate is not necessary.
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You should consult an attorney in Arkansas. Generally it must be probated if it was in her sole name. If the house was joint it probably will not require probate for the house but there may be other assets to probate such as bank accounts and investments. So, the bottom line is you should contact an Ark. probate attorney.
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If her estate were valued at more than 25k, she needs to have an intestate estate filed and an adminsitrator appointed. I'd talk to the county probate clerk. Titled property as joint tenants with rights of survivorship might pass the house outside of probate if there are no mortgage issues or challenge from the other daughter.
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It varies from state to state. If you don't want to pay for an attorney, research it at the library. Since her daughter's name was also on the house, this should help. Probate can be very expensive and can "eat up" much of the estate's value. Good luck.
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