How to find out if someone left you money in their Will?

Getting your inheritance from someone else may take effort on your part. Though, to help you, take these directions to start you on your journey.

Maybe you’re just beginning your journey with Minnesota probate law or perhaps you’re refreshing your mind on some things. Navigating the road ahead perhaps won’t be a long journey for you once you start, but you might want to consider trekking across these United States to find out which county a lost relative resided in.

Minnesota Probate cases are almost always carried out on the county level rather than the state level. If you can narrow things down to the county, your search may already be drawing to a close.

Start in The Minnesota County Court

Probate cases are often retaliative to an area in which someone lived. So, it’s important to know what area they resided in last. This boils down to the county level rather than at the state level. While someone may need to have a probate case in each state that they owned a home, the main estate will probably be filled on the county level.

Things will probably be carried out in the area nearest to where the deceased actually lived until the time of their death.

Newspapers are a great place to start as well as libraries. Their resources might even be online, making them easier to access. Similarly, it’s becoming more and more common for counties to be putting their records on the internet for the public to view.

So, you might be able to check things from the comfort of an internet cafe. Note that the two main areas that you should check may be refereed to as death notices and obituaries. Moreover, your library may even be able to give you free access to resources that you may otherwise have to pay so that can further your search.

Consult an Executor (Personal Representative)

If the executor of the estate doesn’t know about any money that you were owed, nobody may know. Any executor of the estate is supposed to know exactly what’s in the will. Their whole role could have been a result of that will specifically, as executors are usually named in the will.

They’re the kind of person that has to deal with almost all of the money-related matters which the deceased didn’t complete. Any outstanding debts and issues with the property may be their responsibility now, as long as the deceased’s estate can cover for such payments.

Though, you might just get notified as a beneficiary when you least expect it. Giving an executor your contact information won’t hurt. That said, if you wait to hear from them, that’s perfectly fine, too. The worst thing that you can do is hide under a rock and pretend that you don’t exist, especially when they contact you. Assume that everyone wants this done and over with, and they don’t want to hold onto your money for your sake.

Minnesota Probate: Prepare to Wait

Your inheritance may actually take several months to arrive. Just because the deceased wanted you to have money doesn’t mean that you’ll get it immediately after their passing.

Probate is more complex than getting a check because the will said to give somebody cash. There’s the whole process to go through, and the executor could be fighting to figure out which parties can get their share while figuring out what can be auctioned off.

You may well be able to get your information faster by talking with various parties, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll get your money sooner. The executor may still have their many duties, and they could be waiting on the court for everything to be finalized.

It could very well be that the executor is also trying to find a way so that you can even get a portion of the money that was promised to you. If you do anything during this time, be a helping hand. Work with the executor, the probate court, the probate attorney, and any real estate agent who helps to sell the family home.

Other Assets: Aside from the Will

In the circumstance that a will wasn’t left, the case might end up just being your word that you were promised money. The fact is that an estate without a will may not have been dedicated to anyone. A trust could have been left, but those don’t always have the same requirement of going through probate as wills do, and they might not cover the entire property. Leaving everything without some form of estate plan means abandoning everything to the state so that they can relocate the assets properly.

Contacting the probate court is a wise idea even if a valid will was left. They can probably help you understand more about how the intestacy statutes work out, meaning that they can explain how that state handles cases in which a will wasn’t found. It’s common for almost all of the estate to go to the family and for the laws to be set up so that the closer the family was to the deceased, the higher priority they’ll receive.

Ending the Search

How many miles and how many people you’ll speak to may be more than you think. Hopefully, most your travel may be able to be done via phone or internet. Setting out to find the evidence could be your first task or it could be to find out which county managed the probate case.

Minnesota Probate Lawyers

Should you ever run into any kind of questions concerning probate, always make time to visit with a probate lawyer. One can be found at Flanders Law Firm LLC:   www.flanderslawfirm.com,  Call today at 612-424-0398.