Articles Tagged with probate

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How did we answer that? Guardianship of a Minor

I had a patron come in looking for information about becoming the legal guardian of their grandchildren. The parents were no longer available and the grandmother was looking to get legal guardianship of the children, to be able to make legal and medical decisions, and to enroll them into the local school.

In Oregon, the Oregon Judicial Department puts out some forms. The OJD forms are accepted at any circuit (county) court. Additional forms may be available depending on the county/local court. For Guardianship, the state has extremely limited form options. Every county has the option of providing additional forms, guidance, or instructions. As we are in Washington County, our circuit court’s guardianship (called probate guardianship) options are pretty much the same as the state.

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A patron came in who had lost her father. She knew she needed to do something about his estate but had no idea where to start. A friend had told her she might not need to file anything with the court. She wanted to know what to do and if the court needed to be involved.

First, we pointed her to resources, such as law dictionaries, to explain a couple basic terms.

  • Probate is the court process of appointing, and overseeing, someone to administer an estate, identify heirs, inventory assets, pay debts, and distribute the remaining property. This process is handled by the Probate Department of the court.
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We get quite a few patrons looking for small estate affidavit forms to use in the Washington County Circuit Court.  Patrons often remark that other circuit courts have small estate forms available online, thinking our court will also offer the forms.  However, our probate department does not offer small estate forms, but does have great instructions on their website for filing a small estate. Plus, the court will honor any statutorily compliant form.  The law changes frequently, and it takes time and money to keep legal forms up to date.  So individual circuit courts decide which supplemental forms they will offer, outside of the standard Oregon Judicial Department forms.  If you are looking for small estate resources,  here are a few places you can find small-estate affidavit forms and information:

1) Check with the applicable circuit court’s website for forms and/or information on filing a small-estate affidavit. Our circuit court does provides information on filing an Affidavit of Claiming Successor, including the related statutes.  The following circuit courts offer the small estate forms online: Marion, Deschutes, Jackson, Linn, and Clackamas.

2) A common referral for frequently-used forms is the Stevens-Ness Law Publishing Company. They sell Oregon-specific small-estate affidavit forms for both testate and intestate estates (in paper and electronic formats).

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We frequently have patrons requesting small-estate affidavit forms (it was also a very popular request when I worked in Texas). Here are a few places you can find small-estate affidavit forms and information:

1) Check with the applicable circuit court’s website for the form and/or information on filing a small-estate affidavit. Our circuit court does not offer a small estate form, but they do provide information on filing an Affidavit of Claiming Successor, including the related statutes. Marion county’s circuit court does provide a small estate affidavit form, as do Deschutes and Clackamas (be sure to check your county’s circuit court website as I did not check every county).

2) A common referral for frequently-used forms is the Stevens-Ness Law Publishing Company. They sell Oregon-specific small-estate affidavit forms for both testate and intestate estates (in paper and electronic formats).

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“Rights of an Unsecured Creditor to Recover from a Decedent’s Nonprobate Property,” by Daniel C. Re and Hurley Re, in the January 2009 issue of the OSB Estate Planning and Administration section newsletter (previous issues online).

Another article in the same issue: “Appealability of Decisions in Probate and Trust Proceedings,” by Philip N. Jones.

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The latest (Vol. XXV, No. 3, July 2008) issue of the newsletter from the Estate Planning and Administration section of the Oregon State Bar (OSB) includes the following articles:

1) Mediation of Probate and Protective Matters, by Joshua Kadish.

2) Duty to Pay Debts?, by Conrad G. Hutterli.

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In the latest issue (Vol. XXV, No. 3, July 2008) of the newsletter from the Estate Planning and Administration section of the Oregon State Bar (OSB) reports on this story in its “Looking Ahead: Legislative Proposals for 2009” section:

“Proposed Limits on Fees Allowed in Probate to Heir Search Firms: This proposal regulates the activities of heir search firms. The proposal addresses several concerns with the way these firms operate. The fee is often one-third to one-half of the inheritance the person found by the search firm will receive ….”

(Only past issues are online, but you can contact your nearest law school or county law library (see sidebar for links) and ask to see a copy.)

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