What to do about something called a “small estate affidavit’?
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What to do about something called a “small estate affidavit’?
My father passed 7 years ago. My mother and I were recently looking through some old paperwork and found that he had stocks. We called and the company and it sent us paperwork to fill out and send back, however we are unsure of what is a small estate affidavit and we also do not know the amount of the stock. How do we get this and do we have to obtain a lawyer?
Asked on October 9, 2014 under Estate Planning, Illinois
Answers:
Anne Brady / Law Office of Anne Brady
Answered 9 years ago | Contributor
A small estate affidavit would be a statement by your mother has to why your father's will/estate was never probated, probably because the estate was so small. Or if you live in a community property state where when someone dies and is survived by a spouse, the spouse automatically gets everything. If it is a publicly traded company stock, you can look up the price at Yahoo! Finance - just put in the ticker symbol.
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