Aledo, TX Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

Contact a probate lawyer who practices in the county in which your grandmother lived and died.  Since the check is to the estate, not to you, you must open a formal probate (proving) of her estate by filing an Application for Determination of Heirship and Issuance of Letters of Administration or, depending on the amount in her estate, a Small Estate Affidavit.

As Executor of an estate, you will receive "Letters of Appointment" which is signed by the judge and which informs others, including banks, that you have the authority to collect the assets of the estate, pay all owing debts and taxes, and distribute the remains to the heirs. The bank should accept that document in place of the death certificate.

It depends on why you are changing the name. Since you posted in the estate planning law area, I will assume the original grantee on the deed is deceased. In order to have property taken out of a deceased person's name, that person's will must be submitted to probate (if he or she died with a valid will). If that person died intestate (without a will), there are other ways to handle this problem, namely via a small estate administration or an affidavit of heirship. Please make sure to contact an attorney to have a more in-depth discussion of the property deed in question.