My father died early January 2004 in NC. At that time all of his bank accounts were closed. They were set up as custodial accounts so there was no issue about ownership. I was told it was not necessary to establish an estate in NC because there was no real property or other property of any value (he rented). I was told that I could open an estate to deal with his personal household property, but decided against it.
Later that year my father's great aunt died in GA. I found that there was real estate in his name in that state. I established myself as administrator of his estate there in mid December. The attorney who assisted me in securing the administration gave me no guidelines as to my duties as administrator and I'm afraid that some important items were overlooked. I never filed a 2003 tax return for my father.
Because of family issues over the property, it is now 2006 and the estate is seeing its first assetts to date (the property has finallybeen sold). I would like to distribute the funds to benefiaries and close the estate, but I am unsure if I need to file that 2003 NC and federal return to please the court. I did apply for a tax ID and was told that I did not need to file on behalf of the estate for 2004-2005 because there were no assets.
Also, since my father died in NC, my GA lawyer (now retired) may have listed the "notice to creditors" in the wrong county or not at all. I was a little confused at the time. I thought that I was paying my lawyer to take care of these things. Because he is no longer in practice it is nearly impossible to question him. Could this misunderstanding lead to more red tape?

