Finding out if my deceased father had a bank account or land?My dad was a very private person and had all his papers in a safe that he never showed anyone. Unfortunatley my uncles took everything at his death and I have no proof of what kind of papers he had but was told by friends of his i was supposed to get everything and he wrote up and notarized papers saying I was the... | |
i am saddened to hear of your father's death.
find assets? not easily, no.
someone has to open probate. legally, anyone who has a copy of anything that looks like a Will is supposed to file it with the probate court within a reasonable time period. since you're his son and, presumably, can prove it, you have the right to read the Will as filed -- if there is one.
if there isn't one, you can file to open probate simply because you're the son and ask the court to appoint you as executor [or whatever georgia calls the office]. the Executor has the right to ask everyone, including your uncles, to return any property that has been removed and to give into the possession of the Executor any and all assets who titles did not cause their immediate transfer to an heir. [and you get to know about those assets as well since they go into Federal Estate tax computations and payment, if any].
as to your attorney -- this sort of thing takes an experienced probate and estates attorney about two weeks to get in front of the judge. if yours has taken more than a month -- find a new one.
btw, you bargain with the estates attorney before you agree that she or he will do the work and the "standard" fee is nonsense.
You do not state when he died, but if he died with any assets at all, you need to file for Letters of Administration in the county where he last lived. The sooner you do this, the better. Call up the probate court in Rome, Georgia (if that's where he resided) and they'll be able to tell you the exact steps you need to take to start setting up an estate.
This will not only help you in trying to figure out your dad's assets, but it's a legal document that will be needed when winding up your dad's affairs.
If your dad died intestate (without a will), then Georgia law dictates how his property will be divided. Generally, his property will pass down to his wife and children. If no spouse and children, then to his parents. If no parents, then to his siblings. If no siblings, then to his cousins. And so on and so forth.
If he died testate (with a will), then you will need to submit proof of a fully executed last will & testament. Holographic wills (ie. handwritten wills, ones not attested to by witnesses, etc) are not valid in the state of Georgia. If you are certain there is a will, and just can't find it, you're going to have a tougher time trying to prove its content - although it's not impossible.
Start by contacting the appropriate probate court. If the process becomes too involved and problematic, contact an estate planning attorney. Good luck.
A good private investigator can run a asset check on your father.
Your dad could have owned land anywhere in the world. You could search the county assessors office online for property held in his name. But that would apply to the county only and his name only. If he owned land in other counties or out of state then it could be hard to search that.
At a minimum it sounds like you need a new attorney.
Finally notarized papers means your father signed the documents. But the legal validity of those documents is not something a notary verifies. Notaries very the identity of people who sign documents. That is all they do.
Finally every estate will have an executor. If you dad had a Will or Living Trust then someone was named to do that job. If there was no Will then the court needs to appoint someone. Your attorney should be all over that. It is not hard to figure out if there was a Will or Living Trust.
