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How can I be named executor of my fathers’ estate if we don’t know what his assets are?

May 2nd, 2011 2 comments

My father died 2 weeks ago in the State of Michigan. We have been estranged for 20 years and know nothing about his life in recent years. (I live 500 miles away from where he did) We have found out that he has an IRA and a savings account with Chase Bank. However; the state will not give me control of his estate unless I can be specific about his financial situation. i.e dollar amounts in the accounts and most importantly account numbers. Now here’s the source of my problem: He had an on again-off again girlfriend who has been living with him in recent months prior to his death. She conveniently cannot locate any of his mail, bank statements, IRA statements, tax records or anything that would help me determine the actual assets of his estate. We believe in total his estates worth to be less than $15,000 dollars. I’ve been told about a Letter of Authority which will cost me $150.00 do get. This supposedly will give me access to this information directly from the financial institution. Supposedly. And then I can proceed with declaring his assets for probate. Can any one advise me in this area? What should I do? Am I doing the right thing? Oh, and one more thing to note: the ‘girlfriend’ is not a legal tenant in my fathers’ apartment and is not on the lease. Can I assume that everything in his apartment is his and do I have the legal right to search it to get the information that I need? Thank you for any help you can give me.
Also, there was no will.

You would hire someone to do an accounting of the assets. There are people who you can hire to do that if the estate is large.