February 2009

Found dead

by Boyd Johnson on February 26, 2009

Initial probate documents require the petitioner to state the decedent’s date of death. But what happens if a person dies and it isn’t discovered for some time afterwards and it cannot be determined when the person died?

In this situation, the death certificate will typically list the date of death as the date the decedent was found with a note next to the date that reads “(Date Found).”

For the probate documents, change the language in the petition or application to read, “Decedent was found dead on” and then use the “found on” date for calculating relevant statutory time periods.

Categorized in Practice Tips and tagged as ,

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The probate blogosphere: Upcoming CLE

by Boyd Johnson on February 23, 2009

The Minnesota Probate & Trust Law Section of the MSBA is hosting a one hour CLE this Thursday, February 26th, entitled, “2009 Technology Tools Update: The Probate Blogosphere, Latest on Online Resources.” The event will be held at Dorsey & Whitney over the lunch hour. It is free to members. Register through the MSBA.

If you are headed to the CLE, let me know. I’d love to meet you.

Categorized in Probate Practice and tagged as , ,

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Check probate court filings the easy way

February 20, 2009

An easy way to monitor court filings on a probate case is to access Minnesota’s trial court records online. Although you can’t see the actual documents, you can see entries of documents that have been filed. I frequently check the online probate records for items such as: Statements for Claims that were filed with the [...]

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Follow Minnesota probate updates on Twitter

February 12, 2009

Now there is another way to receive updates from this blog and stay up-to-date on the latest Minnesota probate and estate law issues. If you are a Twitter user, you can now follow me at www.twitter.com/boydjohnson. Posts from this blog automatically show up my twitter page. Additionally, I post other items to the twitter page [...]

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Picture guide to correct assembly of Minnesota estate tax returns

February 6, 2009

As I discussed earlier, the Minnesota Department of Revenue has new assembly instructions for attachments to the Minnesota estate tax return (M706). I’ve just learned that they have released a picture guide on how to properly assemble the M706. More details are also available at: Assembling an Estate Tax Return (links to Minnesota Dept. of [...]

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