[WSBAPT] Surviving Spouse of Intestate Heir signing on behalf of estate without probate

[Julie Martiniello]

Hello All,

I have a first time situation on my hands and am hoping someone on this
list has some guidance they could provide.

Decedent passed away intestate, leaving a (unmarried) partner. Decedent's
sister is technically his only heir. His sister lived in Indiana and passed
away 1 month after Decedent, so her estate is now the heir. She was
survived by her husband and had no children. According to Indiana law,
surviving spouse is sole heir of the sister's estate.

Surviving partner has been with Decedent for over 20 years. The
surviving spouse of Decedent's sister has agreed to the appointment of
Partner as PR and has also agreed that Partner should be entitled to all of
Decedent's assets. He is willing to cooperate in that he will sign off on
agreements to this effect.

The issue is that in Indiana, the surviving spouse does not need to open a
probate for Decedent's sister. Can the sister's surviving spouse sign
waivers, a TEDRA agreement, and/or consent to the distribution of the
property to my client as the sole heir of the sister's estate without her
probate being opened?

While, surviving spouse is happy to help with the process to some extent, I
do not foresee that he would want to go as far as opening a probate in
Indiana for this.

I have been toying with the correct way to go about this. If I do get the
surviving spouse to sign off on everything, I am thinking that instead of
doing a NJBA, I would submit a TEDRA agreement to the court for approval
given that there is no probate for the sister. I just have never
encountered this issue before, so any advice or direction would be
appreciated! Thank you in advance for any insight!

-- 
Respectfully,

JULIE A. MARTINIELLO | PARTNER | DIMENSION LAW GROUP PLLC
130 Andover Park East, Suite 300 | Tukwila, WA 98188
t: *206.973.3500 *| f: *206.577.5090*| e: JULIE*@dimensionlaw.com*|
www.dimensionlaw.com


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