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One of my brother, never married, passed away with a will. The will listed several financial accounts he owned. He named his brothers and sisters as recipients for different accounts, and named a group of 5 nephews and nieces as recipients to share one account of about $5000. I am the only recipient to one account with about $120,000. I understantd that a probate process is needed in California to have this account transferred to me. Since I am the only recipent of this account, I will be the executer for a probate of this account. During probate, my brothers and sister should be notified, right? My othr question is: Can I exclude the 5 nephews and nieces in the probate process (since they are not in the brother/sister catelogy)?
Optional Information: State/Country: California
Could you clarify?Who is named in the Will as the Exectutor of the estate?
I will be the executor for this account. Other account will be handled separately at different times.
That is not the way that probate works. Your late brother has a Will and an Executor was named in that Will. That Executor will petition for the Will to be probated and that he or she be appointed as a personal representative of the estate of your late brother. All the accounts are included in your late brother's estate and must be probated at the same time. You cannot probate each account separately. ALL beneficiaries named in the Will must be notified once the petition for probate of the Will and appointment of personal representative has been filed with the Court. See California Probate Code starting at Section 8000-8007 and ending at Section 9650-9657. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=prob&codebody=&hits=20
Experience: Licensed in Massachusetts and New York