Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Missouri
Refund to an Estate
My mother died 2 years ago. She lived in a nursing home for 3 years before her death. Missouri Medicaid paid for her nursing home expenses. She also had Medicare, but had to have a Medicare ''tie in plan'' to cover some medical expenses. Just before mom died, I paid the premium for the next months ''tie in'' insurance. Mom died on the first day of that month.
I just received a check from the insurance company,
refunding the majority of the ''tie in'' insurance premium for that month (almost $400). The check is made out to my mother's estate ''Sally G. Smith Estate''. I was named as ''personal representative'' in mom's Will. Will it be possible for me to cash this check, or will it be necessary for the check to go through the Probate Court since it is made out to mom's estate?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Refund to an Estate
The easy answer is that it will have to go through probate. However, the money is for expenses of your mother while she was living, and not a payment upon death, such as life insurance, etc. Unless her bank objects, assuming she had a bank account, the check could be deposited into her bank account. If that account was a joint account, the money could be removed by the surviving joint account holder. Perhaps that is you. This may also be possible if the account had a TOD or POD designation.
As to your being named Personal Representative in your mother's will; until the will is admitted to probate, and you are granted letters, you have no more authority to handle your mother's assets than you already do by virture of being a surviving heir. That is, you can secure the property, stop mail, keep up casualty insurance policies. But, you can't rely on being named Persoanl Representative until the Court has you application for Letters Testamentary.
You will need to take the will to the probate court in the county in which your mother was domiciled. However, because your mother likely had few assets, you should hire an attorney to give you a legal opinion as to your options regarding your mother's estate BEFORE taking the will to the court. Do this also if you do not understand any of this answer.
Good Luck
Tony Smith
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
