Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Re: joint names on vehicles/house/bank accounts etc.

Please accept my condolences for the loss of your Father.

Generally speaking: property and assets titled jointly with another person are considered "non-probate property" and passes automatically to the other joint owner; property or assets which are titled as co-tenants or co-owners with another are "probate property".

Someone will need to probate your father's estate. If your father passed away with less than $15,000.00 of "probate property" (exclusive of one automobile) and no real property, then a cheaper and less cumbersome probate process is available.

You might want to contact an attorney near where your Father resided at the time of his death to help carry out the responsibilities of administrator.

Re: joint names on vehicles/house/bank accounts etc.

For the land she records a certified copy of the death certificate and for the cars as to MA law, she fills out a form with RMV in MA.

With respect to the accounts she talks to the bank and they may request a copy of the death certificate.

Re: joint names on vehicles/house/bank accounts etc.

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your father.

Property he owned jointly is non- probate property and passes to the surviving owner.

But an attorney near where he resided should be retained to probate any portion of his estate requiring probate.

Re: joint names on vehicles/house/bank accounts etc.

I am sorry about your dad.

If he had any real estate, it passes by operation of law to the tenant by the entirety, but she will need to clear his name for estate tax purposes before she can sell it and she is must probate the estate. The cars can be transferred via a RMV form and a copy of his death certificate and any bank accounts again can be transferred or cleared with just a copy of the death certificate to the bank. If there is real estate, you probably should have an attorney advise you. If no real estate, try to talk to people at the RMV and the bank and see if you can get by on your own to save some fees.