Inheriting Property in Alabama, With No Will

[zse5145]

Hello
I have a problem. My parents did not leave a will. My three brothers, sister and myself were left some property and we would like to sell it but we do not know how to prceed. We were told that we need a document of hiership or something. Do we need to go through probate? What is that anyway? What is next? What is a document of heirship? Any suggestions about how to proceed would be greatly welcomed. There is one more thing, it's been a few years, would time pose a problem? Can we do these things ourselves or do we need a lawyer?
Hope you can answer my posers. Is everything as complicated as I feel?
Lost in Alabama

[Mr. Knowitall]

Knowing nothing about the estate or its size, or when your parents died (although I'm sorry to hear of that), I suggest you consult a probate lawyer in the county where your last surviving parent lived to discuss what you need to do.

[seniorjudge]

Alabama Intestate Succession Laws

If any part of an Alabama decedent's estate is not effectively disposed of by will, the intestate share will be distributed in the following order and manner:

1. Surviving spouse. A surviving spouse is generally first in line to get any assets from the intestate estate. However, the amount a surviving spouse is entitled to depends on these scenarios:

* If there is no surviving issue or parent of the decedent, the surviving spouse is entitled to the entire intestate estate.
* If there is no surviving issue, but the decedent is survived by a parent or parents, the surviving spouse gets the first $100,000 in value, plus one-half of the balance of the intestate estate.
* If there are surviving issue that are also all issue of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse gets the first $50,000 in value, plus one-half of the balance of the intestate estate.
* If there are surviving issue one or more of whom are not issue of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse gets one-half of the intestate estate.
* If the estate is located in two or more states, the share shall not exceed in the aggregate the allowable amounts under Alabama's laws.

2. Heirs other than surviving spouse. Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse as indicated above, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes as follows:

1. To the issue of the decedent. If they are all of the same degree of kinship to the decedent they take equally, but if of unequal degree, then those of more remote degree take by representation.
2. If there is no surviving issue, to decedent's parent or parents equally.
3. If there is no surviving issue or parent, to the issue of the parents or either of them by representation.
4. If there is no surviving issue, parent or issue of a parent, but the decedent is survived by one or more grandparents or issue of grandparents, half of the estate passes to the paternal grandparents if both survive, or to the surviving paternal grandparent, or to the issue of the paternal grandparents if both are deceased, the issue taking equally if they are all of the same degree of kinship to the decedent, but if of unequal degree those of more remote degree take by representation; and the other half passes to the maternal relatives in the same manner. But if there be no surviving grandparent or issue of grandparent on either the paternal or the maternal side, the entire estate passes to the relatives on the other side in the same manner as the other half.

If representation is called for as indicated above, the estate is divided into as many shares as there are surviving heirs in the nearest degree of kinship and deceased persons in the same degree who left issue who survive the decedent, each surviving heir in the nearest degree receiving one share and the share of each deceased person in the same degree being divided among the issue of such deceased heir in the same manner.

3. State of Alabama. If there is no taker under any of the above provisions, the intestate estate passes to the state of Alabama.

Alabama Intestate Succession Law Fun Facts

* Relatives of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood.
* Relatives of the decedent conceived before his death but born thereafter inherit as if they had been born in the lifetime of the decedent.
* Any person who fails to survive the decedent by five days is deemed to have predeceased the decedent for purposes of intestate succession (which means that the person generally doesn't get a share of the decedent's estate). If the time of death of the decedent or of the person who would otherwise be an heir, or the times of death of both, cannot be determined, and it cannot be established that the person who would otherwise be an heir has survived the decedent by five days, it is deemed that the person failed to survive for the required period. (This situation comes up more often than you may think.) However, these rules don't apply if the end result is that the state of Alabama gets the intestate estate.
* Alabama's intestate succession laws, as well as other laws dealing with wills and decedents' estates, can be found in Title 43 of the Code of Alabama.

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