Admin of Estate with decedent without a will?

My father in law passed away in June. He was not married and my husband is an only child. He did not have a will. We are being told that we need a document stating that my husband is the Administer of the Estate in order to open an account in the name of "the Estate of.......", and to transfer the title/registration on his truck into my husband's name. Another possible issue is that he lived/died in California and we live in Kentucky. We called the probate court in CA and were told we needed a lawyer. Is there any way to get this document without an attorney and/or going to CA to court? Thanks in advance.

You may not need to probate the estate at all. California has a provision in the probate code that allows transfers of small estates without going to probate court. All the heir needs to do is file an affidavit with the entities that hold the decedent's property.

Go to this site for information concerning transfer without probate:

http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/probate/p...

Go to this site to transfer vehicle registration without probate:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/formsreg_alp...

Is there any way to get this document without an attorney and/or going to CA to court? - Nope.

The probate has to occur in California. No other state has jurisdiction. I suspect you do not know the probate laws of California.

On the other hand, if you hire a lawyer in California you may avoid having to travel for court hearings as your lawyer can attend for you.

You may need an attorney to represent you at court in CA, but you probably don't have to go there.

Be very careful. Attorney fees nearly killed us on our Dad's estate. He died without a will and was - unbeknownst to us - in huge debt. The fees far exceeded his assets and we wound up owing the attorney money. If you have any friends in the legal business, get their advice on how to handle the CA courts. And stick with a smaller law firm if you must hire someone. The big ones don't give a hoot about you and just keep on billing...

you must hire a lawyer, I am going through this right now and my mother had a will and I too am an only child. It will take about 4 months to clear everything, but it's the only way. I tell everyone I know from now on a will is NOT enough, get a living trust, then no probate. Good Luck.

If this is a small estate (in general, under $100,000 and not including real estate) it can be transferred without probate. You do NOT have to have a lawyer to do this, but, as stated above, you may wish to have one since even without probate documents have to be filed in a California court. This is a link to a discussion of transferring small estates from the Los Angeles County Superior Court (but it has to be filed in the county where death occurred).

http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/probate/p...