Having to do Two Successions at Once

I met with a woman and her husband yesterday. Her mother recently passed away. There were 5 children and they wanted to get the succession done because they wanted to sell mom's house. So I said we've got to prepare all of the succession paperwork and here's a sample succession we show people. Here's a sample of different succession paperwork that we prepare from lists of assets, to things all the heirs need to sign getting someone confirmed as an executor. As we got along in the conversation she said, "You know my parents lived in Shreveport and my dad died about 12 years ago and we never did a succession when he died." Well they never had to do a succession when dad died because mom never had any interest in selling that home. She never could have sold it if she wanted to because dad's succession was never done. Nonetheless, now we have to do two successions. Just because they didn't do dad's doesn't mean it kind of goes away. we have to do dad's and mom's successions at the same time, do the two probates so that that house which is still in the name of mom and dad can be transferred to the five children. So be aware that if you don't do the succession when the first spouse dies, it sometimes doesn't get done until after both spouses die. Sometimes it's harder to get it done then because you got to go back and see what assets existed when the first spouse died. So be aware that sometimes you need to do two successions at the same time. I'm Paul Rabalais, if you have questions about that give our office a call 866-491-3884 we'll be happy to talk you through it.