Probate Claims Update

I posted earlier this month about an issue that I ran into concerning a surviving spouse’s ability to recover the full outstanding amount of joint debts from the decedent spouse’s estate. I hadn’t done the required reading when I posted that, but I have now.

As I suspected, the caselaw is pretty clear that the estate is liable for contribution, but none of the cases the attorney for the surviving spouse is banking on goes beyond 50%.

Now, the real question is whether it’s worth it in my case to fight about. And if it’s not, can I convince my client of that fact?

Claims in Probate

I ran into an interesting issue today. A surviving spouse has filed claims in a probate estate that I’m working on. The claims ask the estate to pay off the mortgage and two lines of credit that are left after the husband died. The couple were jointly and severally liable for the debts, and it makes sense for the estate to pony up for at least part of the debts, but I’m not sure about the whole. I’ve been provided with some case law on hte subject, but I haven’t had a chance to look through it yet. I may update my thoughts after I’ve done that.