Bath, NY Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

Technically, you probably have to open a probate for your mother's estate which would then pay the money to the trust. You might be able to convince the foreign estate to skip the step of making the payment to the estate. If I were the lawyers for the aunt's estate, I would not advise the personal representative to pay to the trust because that doesn't protect the personal representative if someone claims your mother's will is invalid or if a creditor comes out of the woodwork.

Go back to your family law lawyer to obtain a modification your divorce decree, to obtain your former husband's agreement, to set up an estate plan, (trust), with your daughter named as beneficiary of his estate. If your husband does nothing, i.e no will or trust, no estate plan, then his estate goes to your daughter, except the acquisitions during his second marriage. A policy of insurance on his life for the value of the assets in question may be a solution.