What happens if someone dies without a will? If the person who died has any assets whose total value exceeds $30,000, that are only in his or her name, a petition must be filed in court by someone who has an interest in the assets. This could be a family member or a creditor. The petition is filed in Surrogate's court and is asking the court to appoint someone to administer the estate. This means giving someone the legal authority to sell or give the assets to family members and/or creditors. That appointed person would be referred to as "the administrator of the estate."
The law outlines how property is divided if there was not a will. Here are four examples from New York law for intestate (dying without a valid will) distribution:
(1) A spouse and issue(children), fifty thousand dollars and one-half of the residue to the spouse, and the balance thereof to the issue by representation.
(2) A spouse and no issue, the whole to the spouse.
(3) Issue and no spouse, the whole to the issue, by representation.
(4) One or both parents, and no spouse and no issue, the whole to the surviving parent or parents.
The law addresses all other family situation as well and I would be happy to discuss them with you personally.
The administrator of the estate divides the assets of the estate according to the law and reports back to the court to ensure it was done properly.
If a person dies and the asset or property is jointly owned by another, that property or asset may automatically transfer to the survivor, without going to court. It would depend on what the asset is and how it was set up.
The Law Office of Tamara L. Capone can assist in the entire process of administering the estate. Please call for a free consultation.
When you sell a home, what kind of costs will you be responsible for?
The seller is usually responsible for the commissions paid to both the seller's real estate agent and the buyer's real estate agent. The usual amount is 7% of the purchase price. 3.5% goes to each realtor.
Additionally the seller is responsible for updating the abstract. Usually the title company that was involved when the seller bought the house stores the abstract. Sometimes, the seller has kept it. If the abstract can be found, the update costs between $200 to $600, depending on how long the seller has lived in the house. The longer the seller has lived there, the more cost to update the abstract. If the abstract cannot be found a new one must be created.. This will cost at least $800 and possibly more.
The seller will also be responsible for having a current survey. Similar to the abstract, if the survey from when the seller bought the house can be found it can often be re-dated. A new survey will be required is the former survey is 10-20 years old and/or fences, sheds, pools, or other structures have been added. A re-dated survey costs between $300 - $500 dollars. A new survey will cost at least $500.
The above costs can be negotiated at the time the purchase contract is signed but the above costs are the standard in Central New York..
When the deed is recorded for the new buyer, the county clerk must collect transfer tax for the State of New York. This transfer tax is paid by the seller. To determine the amount of transfer tax the purchase price is divided by 500 and that amount is multiplied by 2. For example, if the purchase price is $200,000.00, the transfer tax would be $800.00. There is a $5 filing fee for the transfer tax form.
Finally, legal fees range from $600 to over a thousand. My legal fees for a residential sale are $600 for the basic needs of a seller. There may be additional fees if special circumstances exist. I will go over this in more detail at the time you choose to retain my services.
Normally all fee and costs are paid at closing, subtracting them from your proceeds of the sale.
