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Following Nolo's 'How to Probate an Estate in California', I'm filling
out a spousal property petition so my father can receive all my late
mother's (intestate) assets. The premise (and all the heirs agree) is
that everything was community property, and should pass to my father
(her only husband) directly -- everything my late mother owned was
bought with joint employment earnings, she never inherited anything of
much value, and no property was every intended, written or orally, to
be separate. The amount to be transferred is over $100k, so the short
form can't be used.
I have a few very simple questions about filling out the attachments
to the petition, and am hoping someone who's done this before can
educate me about form and/or procedure, or can point me to samples of
these attachments so I can find the one that matches my situation
clearly.
Thanks,
Krishna Sethuraman
krishgoo@wapacut.com
1. Decedent, Californian of 7 years, owned the following (100sh means
100 shares).
- 100sh Cisco Systems common stock (held in name of decedent,
acquired as community property), certificate FBU123)
- 200sh Cisco Systems common stock (similarly, cert FBU456)
- 100sh IBM common stock (similarly, certificate IBM123)
- 200sh IBM common stock (held in 'direct registration' at
IBM)
- 100sh Microsoft common stock, held in regular,
non-retirement brokerage account number 41-123 at
TD Waterhouse. Account is in name of decedent only,
but stock is community property.
- 300sh Cisco common stock, likewise in same TD Waterhouse
account 41-123
- other securities in same account.
Also, some dividend checks (uncashed) have been received on these
securities since the decedent's passing.
On Spousal Property Petition attachment 7a, how should these
securities and securities accounts and dividends be written out to
satisfy both the court and the securities transfer agent/brokerage?
The example I'm given in the book displays:
200 shares of XYX Corporation common stock
which doesn't identify if 100 are in a certificate and 100 at a
brokerage, etc. -- I'd think a brokerage or transfer agent would want
to see their account number or FBU number on an order, but wanted to
verify if it was necessary or helpful. I'd also like to know how to
list the dividends; some of these checks were never received.
2. On attachment 7a (mentioned above), I see sections for enumerating
'Community Property' and 'Separate Property'. Is there a separate
section for 'Quasi-Community Property' (or can you just list all that
stuff under 'Community Property')? Some of the securities were
purchased while in Illinois (non-community prop. state), but with
joint earned income; per the Nolo book, that makes them
quasi-community property.
3. If the petition is refused because I fail to make the case in
attachment 7, I get another shot at it (possibly through a legal
assistant), right? I just want to make sure if I screw something up
on the forms or they're not satisfied with the supporting details the
first time, that it's not going to become much more complicated.
4. After the decedent's passing, I received some uncashed dividend
and refund checks in her name, and some of her stocks merged, split,
or spun off. Should they be included in attachments 7a and 7b, or do
the attachments represent the contents of the estate as of date of
death (and the refund check/dividend issuers will automatically
reissue the checks since death under my father's name and
brokerages/transfer agents will handle splits, etc properly)?
5. [optional] All that needs to be transferred are some stock
certificates and a couple brokerage accounts and a few dividends
earned in check form after the date of passing. Some of the
securities were purchased while in Illinois, but with funds earned
during the marriage (they owned very little before the marriage). Any
recommendation for how to describe this on Attachment 7 to best
support the case that it was community property, or where to find
samples of this attachment in cases like this?
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