Jill’s father died without enough money to pay all of his bills. Fortunately, the probate laws are set up to resolve Jill’s questions about who will or will not receive payment.
It does this by defining seven classes of claims. First class claims must be paid in full before any second class claims are paid. Second class claims must be paid in full before any third class claims are paid, and so on through seventh class claims.
Funeral and burial expenses are in the first class of claims. Other first class claims are the expenses of administering the probate, such as court filing fees, costs to obtain appraisals, attorney’s fees and the fees charged by the executor.
Jill is the named executor of her dad’s estate in his Will. She will be appointed by the court to figure out what his bills are and to determine how much money is available to pay them with.
The only second class claim in her dad’s estate is money to support Jill’s 16-year-old sister, Pam, for 9 months after her dad’s death. The law sets a minimum amount for that.
For advice about administering the estate of any of your loved ones using probate or not, please call our office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment to review the situation. ©2013 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.