We were working with a family the last couple of days whose dad died two years ago. Dad left everything to Mom so they did the succession after Dad passed away. Well, after they finished that succession they found another couple of assets that were still in Dad's name. There was a bank account that was still in Dad's name and in fact, there was an Allstate refund check for about $20,000 that was payable to Dad's estate that they had never taken care of. So what we have to do is re-open Dad's succession. We will get one of the children appointed as the administrator because his surviving wife is now passed away. So the child will be appointed as the administrator, open an estate bank account and then she'll be able to collect those funds from the frozen bank account and should be able to deposit that Allstate check payable to Dad's estate. Then with all of the proper court authorities and court orders, the daughter will have the authority to pay any extra bills and divide all that money among the heirs.
So just know that under certain circumstances we sometimes have to go back and re-open a succession either to correct things or because additional assets were found after the succession or probate was concluded.
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