no will?

[stephen732]

my uncle just passed away at 58yrs and left about $10,000, a 401k account, and a bill for my mother to pay for his funeral costs. a will can not be found in his paperwork and he has no family in this country accept for my mother, who is his sister. can she get the cost shifted to his estate? also, does the rest of the assets go to the state because no will can be provided? at least my mother is the beneficiary for his 401k. my mother housed him since 1974 and i would like what little he left with to go to my mother as she could use it and now has now an unexpected bill on her hand.

he also left a 1997 nissan sentra w/134k miles but the title can not be found? what becomes of this car?

any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks

[Eagle]

Assuming your uncle had no spouse, no children and no living parents then your sister is entitled to all the assets of yor uncle. The State of NJ is entitled to nothing. She needs to call the probate part of the Superior Court in the county she resides in. She may have to pay a small fee to get "Letter of Administartion" which will allow her to legally distribute the remaining assets. The value of the estate may be small enough that she need not do even this. The Probate court will glady help her with this. Small estates like this are very simple to wrap up - there are no estate or inheritance tax issues involved.

[stephen732]

and what about the car? would the "Letter of Administration" take care of it too?

[Eagle]

Yes, you will probably need a letter of administration to bring to DMV so you can transfer the title.

[stephen732]

so finally everything's done at the surrogate's office, car title transferred, etc... but my mother could not remove $8000 from wachovia bank because they require a tax waiver form. the bank also could not provide one for her. is a tax waiver form really needed? where can the form be found?

[Eagle]

Here is the form - click on the link:

http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/pdf/other_forms/inheritance/itl8.pdf

It has to be notarized. You can call the NJ Division of Taxation at 609-292-6400 and they should be able to help you with any questions.

[stephen732]

the bank requires form B as my mother is a sister to the deceased. the bank stated form A is for spouses, parents, and children of the deceased. does form B need to be purchased? or does she have to drive to Trenton to get it? or is it available for download?