http://home.nc.rr.com/rwbaird/Misc/wills.htm#Intestates & Primogeniture ----- Original Message ----- From: <Cecinit@aol.com> To: <VAFAUQUI-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 8:03 AM Subject: Re: Dying Intestate in VA > In a message dated 10/21/03 5:35:49 PM Pacific Daylight Time, > 71561.634@compuserve.com writes: > > > It would depend on if the person had an estate to leave. (Some didn't.) If > > there was an estate, an administrator would be appointed by the court, > > I don't know this for sure, for the time & place, but have observed some of > the > folllowing practice in other jurisdictions, including Illinois as recently as > a > few decades ago. > > If someone dies intestate, and there is no disagreement about the > division of the estate and no debts, then there is likely no court record. > This would be true as well for guardianship, in days long ago (but probably > not today). > > If there are debts, but no disagreement between the heirs and the claimant, > or no estate to speak of, then a court case is unlikely & not required. > > If the heirs disagree, or claims against the deceased appear or are well known > (like mortgages, outstanding fines, and the like), or the deceased is > part owner of property or a business, then a court record is likely. > Usually something has to happen to settle up the outstanding business. > It may be that there are property and value "lower limits" that decide > whether an estate needs to be probated, as there often are nowadays. > > I have been told that a claimant (rather than an heir) could cause a probate > case to > be opened. I haven't seen an example of this, but it seems reasonable. > > It would be very helpful to know exactly what the laws were in late > colonial & post-revolutionary Virginia, and in the new state of Kentucky, > and to what extent they were actually followed :^) > > > ==== VAFAUQUI Mailing List ==== > Search this list's archived messages! > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl >