The Oklahoma Bar Journal November 2024

you can locate such assets is by looking through past years of bank statements and watching for payments to county treasurers or the like in other states and other counties. _. It is usually a very good idea to look at more than one year of bank statements. If the decedent has been ill for a year, it is entirely possible that they have allowed some important matter to slip by. So if you go back to the year before, you may be able to iden tify payments that will lead you to creditors or assets. Therefore, carefully review at least a significant number of past bank statements. I would suggest that you go back a year prior to the decedent becoming seriously ill. _. Be careful to advise your probate attorney of the cause of death. There are a couple of good reasons for this. First, if the cause of death arose out of a car wreck, poor medical care, poor treatment in a long-term care facility or anything similar to these, it may be important that a wrongful death attorney be consulted. Next, and fortunately uncommon, is that if the decedent died at the hands of someone who was related to them, it is likely that person cannot inherit. _. Be very careful when you are selling assets that belong to the estate. You have a fiduciary duty to maximize the benefit to the estate. Therefore, you should not sell assets at bargain prices to your friends, children or other loved ones. That will likely be a breach of your fiduciary duty and may cause you great distress and financial loss when others, such as the judge, learn about the sale. Seek input on value, keep track of where you got the information and note the information you received. For example, if the decedent owned a house, seek out a couple of opinions of value. Two well-qualified opinions from different real estate agents may keep you out of trouble and assure that you maximize the benefit to the estate. If there is a vehicle, look online – kbb.com for example – and be careful to enter accurate infor mation about the vehicle, use the correct year model, mileage, equipment and so forth. Print out the search results and allow those to guide you to ask the best value for the estate. Of course, you will also adjust the valuation for existing damage or increase it for an exceptionally nice vehicle.

_. Inquire about the possibility of safe deposit boxes at the bank(s). Many times, a safe deposit box will have very important information, such as a last will and testament, marriage license, deeds, abstracts of title and, occasionally, even significant amounts of cash or jewelry. Therefore, it is good practice for you to inquire of every bank where you think the decedent may have done business as to whether they had a safe deposit box in their institution. _. Review the county land records or request that your attorney look at them, watching for evidence of liens, mortgages or lawsuits. Any of these can help you find assets or debts, as these must be identified to the probate court and handled appropriately. _. Be very mindful of tax returns! There are two really important reasons for this. First, you can be held personally liable by the IRS if you fail to file tax returns that are due. That’s a big deal. Second, you are going to be obligated to swear upon your oath and under penalty of perjury that you have paid all the taxes that are due. If you’ve not even had the tax returns prepared, how can you possibly assert truth fully that you have paid all the taxes that are due? You can’t. So get the taxes filed and get them paid. _. Make sure that you and the probate attorney know where the decedent passed away and where the decedent kept their home. Keep in mind that if they passed away in a hospital, that hospital is presumed to be a creditor of the estate, and it is an obligation under the law to provide the hospital a copy of the legally required notice to creditors. If you fail to provide this notice, the probate may not terminate the rights of the hospital to bring a lawsuit later. You can usually learn where the decedent passed away by reading the death certificate. The death certificate almost always identifies the place of death. If that’s a hospital, that hospital must be listed on the affidavit at the mailing of the notice to creditors. _. Watch for real estate owned in a different state. Oklahoma courts cannot control the ownership of real estate in any other state, but you have an obligation to identify – to the best of your reasonable ability – all the assets of the decedent and to administer those appropriately. That will sometimes include the neces sity of hiring a probate attorney in a sister state to handle real property located there. Among the ways

Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.

NOVEMBER 2024 | 29

THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL