Our father died this month and left no will?

Question

Our father died this month and left no will that we could find. He was not organized by any means. He is survived by his four children, divorced, we are all over the age of 21. He resided in California. He did not own real estate, just a jeep that is paid for (but can't find a title). We did find out that he was fully vested in a retirement pension plan and had contributed money into an IRA account with his employer. He has no other assets and his brothers and father say that this avoids probate. How does one of us get a letter of administration to gain access to his bank account, request a title for the jeep, etc. We have divided everything up and are going to sell the rest throughout the year.

Answer 1

Wow I went through that with a car once it was ALOT of red tape I be darned if I remember what I had to do.  But I do believe we went  through the dmv the rest I don't know...

Answer 2

You will have to go to the court house and fill out the proper papers. the clerk will help you in what you will need. My husband and i just did all this and we will be able to finalize his dads estate next month.  your siblings will have to agree on who will be come in charge of your fathers estate. the court will have paper work for that. each sibling will have to sign papers that they agree to who ever they choose to be in charge.  It is a long process it will take up to 6 months for the estate to be closed.  You will have to list all your fathers assets at the time of death. the courts will frown on any thing that you have divided already.  so i would not mention any thing you already divided among your selves.  list the jeep and the bank account. you will not be able to touch the bank account for six months unless you use it to pay any bills that were your dad's.  keep all receipts. for any thing you spend.  you will need his death certificate, you will also need his last wife's death certificate.  some of the things the person in charge of your dads assets are going to cost money. so keep track of what you spend it will be paid back to you out of your dads bank account. make sure you keep a eye on your dad's mail. he may have had insurance policy's you did not know about. also check with his last known employer if he had insurance with them. my father - in- law had two of them.  contact social security and let them know he passed away or they will just keep putting checks in his account, when they find he has passed they will want that money back.

when someone passes away the living realitives are required by law to take it to probate no matter how little the person who passed away had. Good luck I hope you have less stress in doing this than we had.  You don't need a laywer. you can do this all your self......

Answer 3

You're going to need a lawyer. I'd suggest calling around.. most do free consults over the phone, and who knows, maybe there's a way around even needing one which you will find out by calling for their legal advice.