Thanks. He left no heirs. My husband was his stepson (never adopted) and his only natural child died as a teenager, leaving no children. He also had no siblings, parents, etc.
New York State does not require a will be probated if the estate is valued under $30,000. Probate can, therefore, be avoided by holding interests jointly, with rights of survivorship. Anything not held that way can be settled without going through probate.
Since he named his wife as beneficiary of his real and personal property, and she held everything of large value jointly with rights of survivorship, his will was not probated, but was filed with the County in which he resided. I now have a copy of that will, with attached certification and seal of the Chief Clerk of Surrogate's Court, as well as the signature and seal of the County Surrogate (judge).
So, sounds like I also need a certified copy of death certificate?
I will request that and send everything in together.
Thanks, once again, for the help. Do you know who in the Gaines County Courthouse might be the person to contact to make sure this is everything they need? As I said before - the person I spoke to in the County Clerk's office said she cannot give advice, only file the forms.
AOH - Affidavit of Heirship
Sue H
I just uploaded the following on Probates in NY and Texas. Sounds like you’ve got a pretty good handle on everything. I don’t know of any Attorneys in that part of the world, but will ask some Attorney friends here in Fort Worth what they think.
The Certified Copy of the Will with all the seals might be pretty, but an Affidavit of Heirship might be all you need. That and the Certificate of Death.
I’ll ask and get back to you.
Many thanks. My MILs NY attorney retired and move out of state, but I think I can track him down if needed. I think it's probably more important to find out exactly what Texas needs. That is my challenge right now. Also on the Affidavit of Heirship itself, it says not to submit this form if there has been an official court determination of the estate. I will be contacting the NY clerk to see if there is some type of affidavit that the estate was settled and how.I will also get a certified death certificate. I guess it wouldn't hurt to file the AOH whether they need it or not. I could probably complete that with help from my MIL. At this point, I will do what it takes to cover my bases - as long as it doesn't cost a fortune. The minerals may be worth little to nothing. I fear that I will go through this and there will be some small loophole excluding my FILs minerals from the unit.
Anything you can find out from a Texas Attorney would be most helpful.
Although some States allow you to file a Will for Safekeeping, which may have been all they did.
With your having been able to obtain a Certified Copy of the Will, however, it may have been Probated. That would make things a whole lot simpler.
Regarding the four-year time limit on filing for Probate in Texas, there is something called "Probate as a Muniment of Title," which can be filed theoretically at ANY time after the Decedent's death, although the longer after four years that it is filed the better the reason better be for not having filed it sooner, and it's up to each individual judge whether or not to accept the Will for Probate as a Muniment of Title.
I had a case where a husband died and left everything to his wife in his Will. However, for whatever reason, the widow never filed the Will for Probate in the four-year time limit. Charles is right in the sense that without filing the Will the Decedent's assets would be divided according to the laws of descent and distribution, which in this case would have included his three children from two marriages as well as the widow. However, by filing the Will for Probate as a Muniment of Title, even more than four years after the Decedent's death, that Probate proceeding trumped the laws of descent and distribution, and the wife established herself as the sole owner of the asset (the minerals that I was trying to lease for my client, who was going to use her tract as the actual drill site).