I ask this question before and let me add further details..My mom wrote her will up herself, Ok, she had it notorized, signed by two witnesses and I have the original,there is no attorney.The will is written up as it is, it is legal, it is filled out right,it had been notorized, signed by two witnesses , she did not need an attorney she had enough legal education to fill out the will out and it is legal.. I want to file the will, I need to obtain letters which show, I am her authorize repersentative,there is nobody to contest the will, it is just her and I and nobody else.. I know it has to be filed, I just don't know where or how and I know, I need letters to state it has been filed and I am her authorize repersentative, so I may start paying her debts and getting her estate in order. Please, serious answers only... The will is 100% legal, the will is in order, it awaits to be filed,we met all conditions,I want to file it, is there anybody here who can help me ..I live in TN.. Go to your county Probate Court, speak with the clerk, bring in the will, and ask her what you need to do. They are very helpful down at the Courts.
You will most likely have to announce the death in a local paper for notice to creditors, the will will get filed, the judge will review and sign, name you as executor, issue the order, and then you can begin the process. These sites may help.You need to file with the probate court in your county:
Here are the forms you need for probate court. You can also post questions on FindLaw and someone will probably help you.
http://www.uslegalforms.com/findlaw/cate...
http://www.tennesseeprobateattorney.com/
http://www.jeffersoncountytn.gov/index.c...
Good Luck!
Hope this helps! Take it to the county probate court where she lived/died/owned property.
Take positive ID and a checkbook.
THe probate clerk can take you from there. The only letters you need are the appointment of you as executor in the will. The probate clerk will get you the paperwork you need to begin settling debt. Here is an excellent TN Probate court website with the necessary information.....
http://www.shelbybtvolunteers.com/court_...
Richard I presume that she is deceased. You didn't say so, but you cannot file it anywhere until then.
So, if that is the case, you don't actually "file" it, you "open a file" with the Probate Court that has jurisdiction over where she resided at death. Not where she died, where her permanent home address was, and presumably most of the property she held then.
Just get into the yellow pages, the Yahoo! ones work fine for this, enter her town, then select government, and look for Probate Courts. If you can't find any, call ANY court and ask them for the phone number of the Probate court for her town.
Once you have that, ask them what to do to open a Probate file. They generally will want the following: one or more certified (original) Death Certificates (saves embarassment for the court probating estates for living persons), the Will if there is one, and probably a fee to open it (if she didn't have much, ask about Waiver of fees). That's the start.
Next you want the Court to give YOU a "letter of appointment as administrator" or something analogous, which gives you all the authority you are looking for.
Ask them before you leave what your next steps with them would be. Eventually you have to close the estate. Is there any way a will would not be given effect after the testator's death?
First, a testator should make certain his or her family and friends know that there is a will, and that it is kept in a safe, secure location known to the personal representative and other people close to the testator. If a will is not presented for probate, the estate will be distributed as intestate. There is no need to file a will with a governmental agency as long as these steps are taken (although some states allow for this procedure).
Assuming that a will is presented for probate, the testator's survivors still may challenge it in court, although such challenges are relatively rare. Challenges cannot be founded on the will being unfair, or because a devisee did not get what he or she wanted; there must be a legal basis for the claim. Sometimes, a will challenge is based on the testator's mental competence at the time he or she made the will. Generally, however, all the estate must show is that the testator was of sound mind and memory when the will was made, which often can be supported by testimony from the will's witnesses. The will's challenger bears the burden to prove otherwise. Another possible challenge asserts that the testator was subjected to fraud, coercion, or undue influence when he or she made the will; these claims usually follow the marriage of an elderly person to a much younger individual of strong personality. Ambiguities in the will's text charges that the will presented for probate is a forgery or does not meet statutory requirements are other bases for will challenges.
If the court does find that the challenge is correct, it may choose either to disallow only those portions of the will in question, or to throw out the entire document. This ability varies by state with some states being more restrictive than others. If the court disallows the entire will, property will be distributed as an intestate estate, or the court will revert to the testator's last previous otherwise valid will, if one exists. This decision will be based on the relevant laws and the particular situation.
Certain provisions in an outdated will may be voided in probate. For example, many states provide that divorce automatically removes the ex-spouses from each other's wills; in other states, divorce revokes the ex-spouses' wills in their entirety. A law executed under the laws of one state may contain provisions that are not enforceable after a testator moves to another jurisdiction. Laws of this sort underline the importance of keeping wills updated and synchronized with current law.
In some cases, a person will try to make a will verbally or in his or her own handwriting. So-called oral and holographic wills have extremely limited validity in a few jurisdictions. An oral will is usually only valid if made by a person in the military or the merchant marine who is in active service at the time the will is made, and does not have time to make a written will. Therefore, an oral will should not be relied upon unless subsequently transferred into a valid written form. Holographic wills are only recognized in about twenty-five states, and many of these laws still require certain formalities such as a witnessed signature or inclusion of certain provisions. Therefore, oral and handwritten wills are to be avoided, and would-be testators should make reference to the formal statutory requirements for wills to ensure validity. |
