Forms After a Death
Free form builders for the weeks after a death, before or instead of a probate case. Each is built to the rules of the state you choose, or to the published process of the bank, insurer, or online service it is addressed to.
Free form builders for the weeks after a death, before or instead of a probate case. Each is built to the rules of the state you choose, or to the published process of the bank, insurer, or online service it is addressed to.
It depends on what the person owned and how it was titled. Property with a named beneficiary, joint property with survivorship, and property in a trust pass outside probate. What remains goes through probate unless it is under the state's small estate limit, in which case a small estate affidavit collects it. The Probate Decision Tool applies your state's rules.
When the estate's value is under the state's limit and the state's waiting period after the death has passed. The limit and the period differ by state, and several states run the small estate as a court process rather than an affidavit. The builder checks the estate against your state's limit before it produces the document.
It records who the heirs are when no estate was administered, so that real property can be dealt with in the county land records. It is a sworn statement of the decedent's family history, laid out to the state's recording rules. It does not itself transfer title.
Each institution publishes its own claim process and document list. The letter of instruction is addressed to a specific bank, brokerage, or insurer and follows that institution's published requirements. Online accounts, balances, and points are requested through the service's own program for deceased users, which the digital assets recovery letter follows.