Greenville, TX Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

Under Utah's family expense statute, the wife, but not the children are responsible for debt incurred by the deceased to provide the "necessaries of life" which include, clothing, food, shelter, and medical care. Any frivolous or other expenditures, the surviving spouse is not reponsible for. However, the Probate Code makes clear that there can be no distribution to heirs until all debts of the decedent are paid. To the extent that distributions of the estate are made to survivors of the deceased when a proper claim has been made against the estate, the personal representative or heirs who receive $ can be hedld liable to the creditor who did not get paid.

It depends on what the "taking" was and who did the "taking". An estate is a person like any other. The representative of the estate can take any action that would appropriate in a circumstance that did not involve an estate. Do criminal charges need to be filed? Does a demand letter preparing for a lawsuit need to be sent? How would you handle it if your money had been taken? If the "taking" was performed by the representative, action in the court appointing the representative should handle it.