Bangs, TX Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

You need to be more specific about what you are trying to do. Is your father alive or dead? If he is dead, was there a Will? Are there other beneficiaries/heirs? Is anyone going to contest your appointment? If not, then you can certainly file to become personal representative. I have handled MANY estates where the PRs are from out of state. It is generally not difficult. If your father is still alive, is he competent? If not, then the only way to get control would be to go through probate and be appointed guardian/conservator. This is not complicated, but it can be expensive. Feel free to send me additional facts and I will try to provide you more information.

Probate is a court ordered process for transferring the assets of a decedent to heirs and making sure creditors are paid. You could do a probate yourself, but given the notices that are required and the limits on what you are supposed to do it would be best to hire a lawyer. The process takes about 5 months if there are no complications. It starts with a petition that includes a death certificate and information about all heirs and beneficiaries. If there is no will, you will almost certainly have to post a bond to be appointed as personal representative. Once the petition is approved by the court, you would be appointed as personal representative and given authority to gather and manage the decedent's assets and pay creditors. You would have to try to locate and send notices to all creditors and file an inventory of the decedent's assets. At the end of the probate, if the court is satisfied that creditors have been paid and there are no unresolved objections, the court would allow the decedent's assets to be distributed to you. If the decedent's assets were not high in value, it is possible to do a simpler small estate affidavit procedure instead of probate.

If you are the beneficiary of the life insurance, then it does not go through probate and you would not have to use the funds to pay his debts. Please make sure that you did not sign for, or co-sign for, any of his medical treatment.