Looking for some guidance for a buddy of mine. Long story short is his dad went through the hurricane and survived but upon seeing the aftermath of his belongings, he committed suicide leaving my buddy to try and settle his affairs. His dad didn't have my buddy or anyone else on his accounts so he is struggling to get his stuff closed and debts settled. He didn't have a will and didn't have anything naming my buddy as an executor. The bank is telling him he needs a letter of administration to review before they will do anything. Us being in here in Iowa, what is first step to get this started? Thanks in advance.
In FL but of no use here. Just using the thread to remind people to get a fucking will, regardless of your age.
Would be smart to get a probate attorney to give advice and be able to attend the court proceedings that will be needed to close everything out. Similar situation happened with my family and i have no idea how we would have managed without one.
You need to get a probate lawyer to open an estate, and he can be named the Personal Representative. Once the letters of administration are issued by the probate judge, he can use that to act on the estate’s behalf.
This. Letters of administration are issued by the probate court after probate is opened. Wicked if you'd like I can PM you the contact info for a guy in Tampa that my firm uses for ancillary administration. He's not the cheapest, but cheap probate attorneys are a risky proposition in anything but the most straightforward cases.
You need a probate lawyer in this situation to help with the estate and have him named the representative of it. Edit. Looks like El Tiburon covered it.