My father died a few days ago of a sudden heart attack. We are going to need to deal with the distribution of his assets between myself, my younger brother, and my step mother.

After things die down a bit, myself and my stepmother plan to work together to try to account for all of his assets in whatever form they may be in. We'll then have to take the will and discuss the breakdown. Eventually, we will get a lawyer and whom we will present the information to and move on to the legal phase of making it happen. We would prefer this sort of thing to getting a lawyer immediately and seeing enormous bills for them to just do fact collection.

Does anyone have experience with this and know of what resources I should turn to (websites, books, etc...)? Any general knowledge to share?

Thanks

6/1/2007 11:06:57 AM

go ahead and contact an estate lawyer


esp with siblings and a step parent



sorry about your loss

6/1/2007 11:10:10 AM

1) Get a lawyer. No matter how friendly your family can be... shit happens. TRUST me I know.
2) Figure out who the executor of the estate is. If there is none before you look at ANYTHING. Agree on how things should be split up. "evenly" etc.

The above two are essential to avoiding arguements and problems that can cause rifts in the family later on. It's rough, it's a bitch... but usually the will takes care of this.

6/1/2007 11:25:19 AM

I recommend http://www.manningfulton.com/default.aspx

Do your own shopping of course, but I know they're a good firm. The NC State Bar referral number is 800-662-7660. You may be on hold for awhile, but they'll give you other names of estate attorneys in your area.

This is also a good site to search http://www.findlaw.com/

And if you really think you can handle it yourself, go to the estates office and find out what you need to do. 12th floor in the court house. All of their forms are online http://web.co.wake.nc.us/courts/estates.html

[Edited on June 1, 2007 at 11:47 AM. Reason : ]

6/1/2007 11:44:54 AM

i work for a law office and we do some estates, but its a very lengthy process. we usually get people who thought they could do it themselves and decided not to. check your pm, i highly recommend pinna, johnston, and burwell- since i know everyone there (but they aren't who i work for) and i've had personal experience there.

6/1/2007 11:51:07 AM

http://www.handelonthelaw.com/

6/1/2007 2:52:05 PM

make sure you get plenty of copies of the death certificate, they will need to be sent to any creditors, cell phone companies, etc.

6/1/2007 3:12:08 PM

First, how much money are we talking about? If he died with little or nothing, its not even worth administering the estate.

Second, lawyer up now. It won't be that much more to have him in on the off set. Honestly, who ever your dad appointed as executor will inventory the property, for which he can receive a fee from the estate. The attorney is not going to come to your house and count how many plates you have or care that you got the baseball cards that were not devised and your brother got the dvds.

I would use the attorney that drafted the will to administer it.

There are certain processes and filings that have to be done. You also have to notice the creditors, which will allow them to instigate suit on the estate. Also, the will might have a few problems and all your ground work would be useless.

6/5/2007 9:15:19 AM

I'm so sorry for your loss

[Edited on June 5, 2007 at 11:07 AM. Reason : I would recommend at least shopping a lawyer now.]

6/5/2007 11:06:26 AM

OH my, I just realized how recent it had happened. I am thinking about you and your family.

6/5/2007 11:39:40 AM