I have a single (never had any children) 57 year old friend – John - that died the end of April (in the state of NC) – where he lived in an apartment with another friend but the lease was only in John's name. He has one sister that lives out of state as well as an 80+ year old father out of state. His rent was not paid for the month of May because he was in the hospital and was unable to pay the bill and died while in the hospital. The apartment complex wants to have everything out by the 15th of May.
There is no will. John was a hoarder and there is no real value for any of his belongings and he has a large debt to a credit card company as well as – I'm sure, a rather large hospital bill – because he was unemployed had no health insurance.
His sister is coming here to go through John's things but will not arrive until the 13th of May. The friend that shared the apartment has been going through John's clothes and has taken most of them to a non-profit organization in order to make it easier for John's sister to go through the remaining items.
First, is it ok for this friend to go through and get rid of John's clothes (since he was told it was ok to do that by John's family) – or is everything in the apartment supposed to be considered part of the estate?
Can the apartment complex lock us out after the 15th?
John also has items in a storage place that he paid rent each month by having it automatically debited from his credit card. We have the key and have access to the locker.
Can we go thru those items or not?
There was some money in his checking account and a couple of thousand dollars left in an IRA that he was withdrawing from to live off of – despite the fact that he had to pay penalty fees. I filed his state and federal taxes for him while he was in the hospital - before he died and filed them online and was able to get most of the penalty fees refunded for last year, but the refunds will go directly to his checking account.
Are all funds in his checking account and IRA considered to be part of the estate?
He had an old car (1990 something with no debt owed on it). It's sitting in the apartment complex parking lot. The title was in his name only.
Who is responsible for that now that he's gone?
His sister, his friend and I are all working together to try and tie up all the loose ends but are unsure of what we are legally able to do now that he is gone, as no one is set to be an executor of the estate – of which there is no real estate to speak of - only several thousands of dollars owed to his credit card and the hospital.
None of us has the money to hire an attorney but really do need some advice.
There is no will. John was a hoarder and there is no real value for any of his belongings and he has a large debt to a credit card company as well as – I'm sure, a rather large hospital bill – because he was unemployed had no health insurance. His sister is coming here to go through John's things but will not arrive until the 13th of May. The friend that shared the apartment has been going through John's clothes and has taken most of them to a non-profit organization in order to make it easier for John's sister to go through the remaining items.
First, is it ok for this friend to go through and get rid of John's clothes (since he was told it was ok to do that by John's family) – or is everything in the apartment supposed to be considered part of the estate?
Can the apartment complex lock us out after the 15th?
John also has items in a storage place that he paid rent each month by having it automatically debited from his credit card. We have the key and have access to the locker.
Can we go thru those items or not?
There was some money in his checking account and a couple of thousand dollars left in an IRA that he was withdrawing from to live off of – despite the fact that he had to pay penalty fees. I filed his state and federal taxes for him while he was in the hospital - before he died and filed them online and was able to get most of the penalty fees refunded for last year, but the refunds will go directly to his checking account.
Are all funds in his checking account and IRA considered to be part of the estate?
He had an old car (1990 something with no debt owed on it). It's sitting in the apartment complex parking lot. The title was in his name only.
Who is responsible for that now that he's gone?
His sister, his friend and I are all working together to try and tie up all the loose ends but are unsure of what we are legally able to do now that he is gone, as no one is set to be an executor of the estate – of which there is no real estate to speak of - only several thousands of dollars owed to his credit card and the hospital.
None of us has the money to hire an attorney but really do need some advice.
