estate

by christie
(Texas)

I am the excecutor of my aunts estate, she owned her home but it has a about 4000.00 in back taxes that are due, there is no money in the estate the house is valued at about 30,000.00 she also has a car that we can get about 9,000.00 for. My mom paid for the funeral 6500.00 and legal fees 2000.00 so far. The house is about an hour from me and I am not able to check on it, do I have to sell it or can we let the house be forclosed on for taxes... she also owes hospital and medical bills that are about 20000.00

Comments for estate

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Nov 07, 2012
 estate
by: Debtcollectionanswers.com

Christie:

As executor of your aunt's estate you must file her will with the probate court in the county where your aunt lived. You must also notify all of her creditors of her death so that they can file claims with the court to be paid out of her assets. If there is not enough money in the estate to pay what she owed at the time of her death, you are obligated to sell some or all of her assets and use the sale proceeds to pay your aunt's debts. If there is not enough money to pay everything, then the creditors who don't get paid will be out of luck. They cannot look to you or anyone else to get paid.

Based on what you have told me, the wisest course of action would seem to be to hire a realtor to sell your aunt's house, sell her car, and use the sale proceeds to pay the debts. It appears that there would be enough money to do that. Also, it looks like the sale would provide enough money to reimburse your mother too.

Are you working with a probate attorney? If you are not, I recommend that you at least schedule an initial appointment with one so you can be sure that you handle everything right. An hour or so of the attorney's time would be money well spent and the cost should come out of your aunt's estate.

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