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I'm his executor. Has anybody gone through probate? He has a house that my brother is currently renting and wants to purchase. Thanks for any light you can shed on what to do after your loved one passes away.

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Great insight given.

Another option is MUNIMENT OF TITLE. If there is a valid will and the only asset is a house or a car and there is no debt, please look into seeing if your state allows for the transfer of property can be done as a "muniment of title" rather than going full probate court. Think of muniment as kinda like "probate lite" version.

Muniment of title is pretty cheap (maybe $ 300 - 500) requires 2 - 4 hearings or presentations of paperwork to probate court. You can do it yourself if you have the documents ( a valid will & death certificate and can show no debts) and have your wits about you. For my mom's county, it is a 3 step process with only 1 of those being a hearing the other 2 are a drop off of notarized documents to the intake staff @ the courthouse. If there is a glitch at the hearing, you could have another hearing, so 4 steps. Everything will have to be done within a fixed period of time (180 days for my mom's county) and a final document provided to the court showing the recorded transfer of the property.Not all states allow muniment.

You may have to have a title search done to establish that there is no debt or claim or other cloud out there on transferring the property (like taxes not paid) and that is included in the documents. But that might just be good for all, so that your brother knows there is nothing lurking out there on the house.

If they were on Medicare & Medicaid for their health care, then there will be no medical or health care debt. BUT if they were on Medicaid and had a home, there will likely be a Medicaid claim or lien on the property (MERP - estate recovery). So that will need to be worked out with a release done from MERP if you want to do a muniment. This can be sticky to do. Was he on Medicaid at all?
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If you know the attorney that wrote up the will, contact him/her and they will lead you through the process. Each state is different, so you will need the lawyer to tell you what to do. We went through this last year for my MIL who lived on an island. The probate judge only came to the island on the second Tuesday of the month. I believe you have thirty days to probate the will, but we were given more time due to the circumstances of the probate court.
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Most counties have printed and online information about settling wills. Check it out, it gives you a step by step process.
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I called our attorney who did the will and he took care of the filing for probate.
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