Dear Dave,
Our next-door neighbor was an older single man with no family, and my wife and I always tried to look out for him and help with things. He died recently, and in his will, he left us his home, his car and the money he had in his bank account. The will was handwritten, and it said the house was worth around $350,000, with $150,000 left on the mortgage. The car is worth about $10,000. Officials at our county office building said the money in the bank account wouldnt have to go into probate since I was listed as the beneficiary, and I was given a check for that amount. Weve just never handled anything like this before, and my wife and I were hoping you would help us navigate things.
Steven
Dear Steven,
There are a couple hundred thousand dollars in equity involved here. The fact that the will is handwritten doesnt necessarily invalidate it, but it does increase the possibility of encountering some bumps down the road.
Im not a lawyer, so the first thing Id do is talk to a couple of probate attorneys in your county. Find out what theyd charge to handle things. I wouldnt spend thousands of dollars to get this done, but I would pay $500, maybe $1,000, to let someone who knows what theyre doing handle things. If your county affairs people are right and everythings easy and straightforward, its not a lot of legal work for an attorney.
On top of that, if the attorney you work with knows folks at the courthouse and is familiar with how things work there, then its kind of like traffic court, you know? Its almost automatic. I mean, were only talking about three assets herea bank account thats already been handed off, a car and a house thats mortgaged. For me, itd be worth a little money to have someone on my side who knows the path through the woods.
Im sorry to hear your friend and neighbor passed on, Steven. But I hope Ive been able to help.
Dave