Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Re: probating a will

Your brother will need to probate the Will. If all three of you inherited your parent's house, you will probably want to consult an attorney in order to properly transfer the house. You will probably also want to get an attorney to assist in the probate of your sister's Will. The probate fees will be paid out of the Estate assets.

Re: probating a will

Your brother-in-law must probate the will to be able to properly dispose of the assets that existed in his wife's name. The transfer of the real estate will be practically impossible without his proceeding through probate; no title insurer will pass on title to the real estate if the probate is not properly completed.

As to the costs of probate, these are normally paid by the estate. If the will is "simple" and the estate assets are few (and your sister named your brother-in-law as the sole executor of her estate in the will)it is possible that your brother -in -law could do the probate himself, if the court clerk in your county is especailly patient and helpful.

It would be best if an attorney was consulted now, especially as you will need to consult one for the transfer of real estate anyway.

Best of luck.

Re: probating a will

If the Will is not probated, your sister will be deemd to have died intestate (without a Will), and your brother will not get the complete estate. It will probably go to your parents under the laws of intestacy. He needs to probate the Will to assure he gets the assets, plus the authority to handle whatever your sister is entitled to receive from your parents' estate. This will also give him the authority to handle the house. However, you do not describe the order of deaths (sister and parents), so the matter of the parent's house may have to be handled differently. I need more information to properly respond to this question.

Re: probating a will

While your brother in law is correct that most estates can get by without being probated, the exception is where real estate is involved. Here, the will must be properly probated or there will be problems with transfer of title at a later date.

In addition, there is a suggestion that there is also an undistributed estate passing from the parent's death earlier. Is this accurate? If so, passing the inheritance from the parents estate to the deceasesed sister's estate and then to her huband (it is even complicated just to write it!) will require authority from the probate/surrogate court. However, the fees should be very small. In today's world, lawyers no longer work for a percentage of the value of the estate, but rather are paid a fixed fee (set amount) based on the work the lawyer actually does. You are welcome to a consultation at my offices for no fee at 42 West 44th St, NY,NY. Please call for an apointment first -646-591-5786.