Shellman Bluff, GA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

It depends. Even without a Will, your father could have provided for you by naming you as beneficiaries on some of his assets. There could be life insurance. There could be IRAs or annuities, as well. If that was not done and you were not joint tenants on any of his assets, then you would be unlikely to receive anything, unless the estate were relatively large. In the absence of a Will, the spouse is entitled to roughly the first $200K and half of the rest.

They should see a lawyer. Estate planning should be done carefully by a person knowledgeable about the issues. An experienced lawyer can make the process easy and it is not necessarily expensive. In order to keep cost down, be prepared with information about your parents' assets who is in the family and should inherit something, and whether any specific gifts should be included (such as a Tiffany lamp to niece who collects them).

Property that passes according to beneficiary designations, such as insurance benefits, is not affected by a will. Neither is property that is held jointly with someone else, with right of survivorship. The personal representative can sometimes get information about property held jointly if such information is necessary in order to properly prepare the decedent's final income tax returns, or estate tax returns.