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[scotfiddle]

This may not be the right place for this, so let me know if I need to move it.

Does the lawyer who wrote the will contact the executor? If so, what is the time frame?
 
Karen

[Elena]

If the executor doesn't find out before the attorney does that the executee is dead then the attorney could do it.  Generally, the executor is someone close enough that they call the attorney to report the death, not the other way around.  As I understand it, attorney's will keep a copy of the will, but the real thing stays with the person it belongs to.  It is also possible that the attorney and the executor are the same person.

Don't know if it matters to you, but since I found out the hard way - any wishes a person has about what happens after they are dead has to be in the will.  All power's of attorney cease to be upon death.  Though the best way would be to put the information in the power of attorney for health care and say it is also in the will, in case there is some difficulty finding the will.

Elena

[scotfiddle]

Can the copy at the lawyer's office be used or does the real will have to be found before anything moves forward, like the body being released, insurance money for burial being available, etc?
K

[Bob Mueller]

I'll have to check with my wife, but it seems to me that the attorney's office has the original in their "will vault," and we have a certified copy. Either should be suitable.

As far as wishes for after death, certain things could be included in the pre-planned funeral contract, if it's stuff pertaining to the funeral service, like certain people not invited, certain possessions placed in the casket. That contract is drawn up between the will's executee and the funeral home.

[Elena]

Excellent question, meaning the answer is definitely positively maybe!

When my partner died two years ago, because I never entered the will for probate, no one ever looked at it or even asked to.  No reason to.  That was because there were no unassigned assets - we had everything in both names with rights of survivorship.

Until a will is accepted for probate it is not a legal document to the world, and since that tends to take more time than is practical in burial and/or cremation it seems to be perfectly common to go ahead and release that sort of money if it's necessary.  In dealing with my parents deaths, neither of whom had wills, I learned that the funeral people also would wait for an executor to be appointed to get their money.  They just needed assurance that there was money to pay.  My attorney called them.  But in all three cases I was dealing with no funerals and no frills.  Possibly if I had wanted to have a big fancy funeral they would have wanted something - I don't know.

A person can function as an executor without the will being admitted to probate, though in some places the function then has a different name which I don't remember.

It would also depend on whether or not the copy in the lawyer's office was signed and witnessed or not.  Where I live now the attorney said absolutely no to that idea; in the state I moved from it was a common thing to do.  Bob just wrote of the original will being in the attorney's "will vault" with Bob having a certified copy - so clearly this is different from state to state. 

You also may be able to find out more at the web site of the state you're interested in.  Some of them have very comprehensive coverage of things like this.

Happily, for fiction purposes there is a lot of flexibility.

Elena

[Debbie Matthews]

My mother retained the orginal copy of her will, which she had in a safe deposit box.  She'd given a copy to my brother who was the executor.  However, we never had to probate the will because it was divided equally between the three children, so we never even contacted the lawyer.  Though the house was already in all three of our names.  She'd done that years ago in case she had to go to a nursing home they wouldn't take the house.

As far as jewelry and household items, she just handwrote a list of specific bequests that she also gave to my brother, the executor.  We had no problem, but I'm sure there are other families where it might not go to whom she wanted.

[scotfiddle]

Thank you all for your input. It does seem like I have a good bit of flexibility, which is a good thing. 

What does it mean for a will to be in probate?

Karen

[Elena]

In most places the court that supervises the actions of the executor of a will is called Probate Court.  When an attorney files a will for probate s/he gives the judge assurances that this is the FINAL will and testament.  There is also a filing charge.  What happens then is the judge gives the legal okay-dokay for the executor to go ahead and execute the deceased wishes and also sets up a schedule in which the executor has to essentially report progress.  Eventually, there is a final wrapping up and the executor is relieved of duty.  All this stuff has it's own vocabulary which I don't know.

More flexibility - in my situation with not having filed the will for probate, my attorney did submit it to the court just for legal recognition of it's existence when my partner's mother tried to take my house away from me.  But this was not filing for probate, it was just filing it at the courthouse.

Enjoy,
Elena