Sandersville, GA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

All of his personally owned assets which are subject to probate should be your son's (his son). Please contact us as you would need to open a probate to begin this process.

You cannot cash it until you open the account.  Nor can you legally sell the house until a court appoints you executor (if there is a Will) or administrator (if not).  Contact a local probate attorney.

Assets held in an account that is subject to a payable on death (POD) beneficiary designation do not become part of the decedent's probate estate. Instead, they are paid directly to the beneficiary. However, with POD or transfer on death (TOD) designation, if the decedent's estate turns out to be insolvent, the creditors could legally come looking to the POD/TOD beneficiary for payment of the decedent's debts. So, there is some risk of a creditor claim, although it's likely to be small, and the probate estate assets should be used before any creditor comes after POD or TOD beneficiaries. (Note: some assets payable under beneficiary designations that are NOT POD or TOD designations, such as beneficiary designations on IRAs or other retirement plans and life insurance, have more protection against creditor claims than POD/TOD accounts do.) Georgia has no estate or inheritance taxes, so assets received from a Georgia decedent normally will not be subject to any such taxes unless the decedent's estate was large enough to generate a federal estate tax. If you have actual questions about a real situation, however, please don't rely on this kind of forum. Get an actual consultation from an attorney. That's the only way that anyone will be able to get enough information about your actual situation to give you legal advice. Best wishes to you.