Harton Law Firm

Accessible, Convenient, Affordable Legal Services for the People of Wyoming

Steve Harton

Fixed Fee Probate Service

Fixed fee probate service is the norm in most cases. Probate is one of the few areas of the law where the work on a case is predictable. Therefore, the price for probate service is also predictable.

There are generally four types of probates in Wyoming.

Affidavit of Survivorship

This is a case where property is owned as joint tenants with rights of survivorship. When one of the owners pass away, their ownership interest goes to the surviving owner or owners.

These affidavits work for both personal property and real property, such as:

  • You own a car with your spouse or parents, and the title has both your names on it, AND also something like JTOWRS, Joint Owners. If it doesn’t state that, then you probably need to do an affidavit for distribution.
  • You own a house with your spouse, parents, or children, and the deed has all your names on it, AND also something like “husband and wife,” or “as Tenants by the Entireties,” or “as Joint Tenants.”  JTOWRS, Joint Owners. If the deed does not say anything like that after your names, or if it says “as Tenants in Common,” then you probably need to do a Petition for Distribution or a full probate, depending on the value of the real property.

Our firm, and most other law firms, will handle an affidavit for distribution on a fixed fee basis. Please click on the following link to see our fees for an affidavit of distribution.

Affidavit for Distribution

This probate procedure is used to distribute personal property. For instance, your father passes away and leaves a car or a bank account that is only in his name. If his estate is worth less than $200,000, then his personal property can be probated by this affidavit, whether he had a will or not.

This is a pretty simple process, so long as all of the heirs can be found, and are willing to sign the affidavit.

Basically, the affidavit sets out the name of the decedent, who his heirs are and who should get the property. It is signed by all of the heirs in front of a Notary, and then it is recorded with the County Clerk. The recorded affidavit can then be used to get new titles, and to cash out bank accounts.

However, if the estate (including any real property) is worth more than $200,000, or if you can’t find all of the heirs to sign the affidavit, you will probably have to do a full probate.

Petition for Distribution of Real Property

This is another summary probate procedure, but it is used to distribute real property. For instance, your father passed away, and left a house or piece of land that is only in his name, or in his name and and someone else’s, but as joint tenants. This process can only be used if the estate is worth less than $200,000, including any personal property.

Basically, you file a petition to distribute the property to the heirs with the Court, along with a report of appraisal on the property. The petition is then set for a hearing, and a Notice of that hearing is issued by the Clerk of Court.

The Notice is then published in the paper two times, to give anyone an opportunity to object to the proposed distribution of the property. If no one objects, the Court will issue an Order Distributing Real Property. That order is then recorded with the County Clerk.

Our firm has a fixed fee for a petition for distribution, if there is no objection. If there is an objection, then the cost of that representation will have to be quoted, based on the objection.

Formal Probate in Wyoming

This is the probate that most people think about. It usually takes at least six months, and will usually cost at least $4,500. However, the attorney fees are generally fixed, and are based on the value of the estate.

Conclusion

As you can see, most probates in Wyoming can be handled on a fixed fee basis. Even if the fees are not fixed, they are predictable.

To learn more about probate in Wyoming, please schedule a consultation on line, or call 307-382-5545.

By Steve Harton

Post Divorce Checklist

The divorce is final. Now what?

The act of getting married creates lots of legal consequences on its own. In addition, people often create additional legal ties during their marriage. Some of these connections are not automatically broken when you get that divorce decree.

Here is a list of things you should do after your divorce:

  • Bank accounts
    • Remove your spouse from your bank accounts
    • Remove your spouse as the pay on death (POD) beneficiary on your accounts
    • Close all joint accounts
  • Credit Accounts
    • Credit cards
      • remove your spouse as an authorized user on all of your accounts
      • close all joint accounts, if you can
      • “freeze” any joint accounts you can’t close, so nothing else can be charged
    • Mortgages and other loans
      • Monitor payments on joint loans assigned to your spouse, so you can take action if they don’t make the payment
      • Pay all loans assigned to you on time, and try to pay them off, or refinance them solely into your name, as soon as possible
  • Vehicle titles
    • Get new titles for all vehicles awarded to you, with you as sole owner
    • Make sure your spouse gets new titles for vehicles awarded to them, with them as sole owner (so you are not liable)
    • Pay off the loans on vehicles awarded to you as soon as possible, so that you can put the titles solely in your own name
  • Insurance
    • Health insurance
      • If your spouse is insured through your work, inform your employer when the divorce is final. Do not tell them to stop covering your spouse. Let them do that on their own.
      • If you were covered through your spouse’s work, consider taking COBRA coverage until you can get your own coverage; get your own coverage as soon as possible
    • Car insurance
      • Remove your spouse as an insured on all vehicles awarded to you, after the title is in your name
      • Remove your ex-spouse as an authorized driver of vehicles awarded to you, after the title is in your name
      • Make sure Monitor the insurance policy on all vehicles awarded to your spouse, until you are no longer on the title, so that you can take action if policy is not paid
    • Life Insurance
      • Contact your work’s HR department and change the beneficiary on all work related life insurance policies
      • Change the beneficiary on all other life insurance policies that you may have
  • Retirement accounts
    • Contact your HR department at work, and change the beneficiary on your retirement, 401k, 457 and other deferred compensation plan accounts
    • Inform them if any portion of such accounts were awarded to your spouse in your decree
    • If you were awarded a portion of your spouse’s retirement, 401k or other such accounts, contact your spouse’s employer and ask them for the procedure to get those things set over to you, or contact us for help with that
  • Investment accounts
    • If investment accounts were split by the divorce, separate the accounts as soon as possible
    • Change the beneficiary on your accounts
    • If you were awarded a portion of your spouse’s account, contact the investment company to find out how to get your portion set over to you.
  • Estate plan
    • If you have a will or trust, consider revising them
    • If you and your spouse have minor children:
      • Make a will or trust, if you don’t want your ex to control your money in the event of your death
      • Amend your existing estate plan for the same reason

The above list is a good starting point for reviewing your legal situation after your divorce. However, each person’s situation is different. The important thing is that you give these things some thought and attention after your divorce is final.

By Steve Harton

Adoption with unknown father

So your husband wants to adopt your child. Problem is, you can’t get the biological father’s consent consent, because you don’t know who he is.

Because he was a stranger you met in bar. Or you were a bit promiscuous at that time.  Or you were at Wyoming’s Big Show in Rock Springs, had a good time at the concert, then went to a party with your friends, and woke up on a couch without all of your clothes on.

So you end up pregnant. You go into labor with your best friend coaching you, and give birth to a healthy, beautiful baby boy. You are a little embarrassed to tell the people at the hospital that you don’t know who the father is. But you name him Joseph after your grandpa, you give him your last name, and you eventually get your son’s birth certificate, which has no father listed.

Your continue working your job as a receptionist at the insurance agency. Your boss is good to you, and lets you flex your schedule to take your son for his checkups, etc. After work, you pick up little Joseph from your mother’s or the baby sitter’s. You take him home and play with him, feed him, bathe him and then put him to bed.  You then have an hour or two to clean, do laundry, and a few minutes for yourself.

Life is pretty good, but money is tight. Baby sitters, diapers, and formula are expensive. You don’t have the money, or the time, to go out with your old friends. Hanging out with Joseph is awesome, but you miss the company of adults. You get a little lonesome sometimes.

One day you are in the fruit and vegetable section of the grocery store, looking for those perfect avocados. You pick them up one by one, giving them a gentle squeeze. Then up walks a guy and starts doing the same. The two of you start discussing avocados. He smiles at Joseph, who smiles back. Avocados lead to food and cooking, and before you know it, you have been talking to the guy for fifteen minutes.

His name is Ben. He asks you out and you start dating. He likes Joseph and Joseph likes him. He does not care about you not knowing Joseph’s father, because that happened before him. You and Ben get married, you have a daughter. Joseph has been calling Ben “dad” for a while now, and Ben wants to adopt Joseph to make things official.

What now?

Adoption Requires the Consent of the Natural Father

In Wyoming, a step parent adoption requires the consent of the natural father, unless the adoption can be granted over his objection. If the father is unknown, then there is no one to consent.

If Father is Unknown, Mother Must File an Affidavit Stating So

When a mother does not know the name of the father, she must file an affidavit stating that she does not the father, giving the reasons why she does not know him. This affidavit must be file with the petition to adopt.

The Court will then determine whether or not anyone has registered in the putative father registry. If someone is listed there, then the Court will require that the person be served with the petition.

Unknown Father Served by Publication

If no one is listed as the father of the child in the putative father registry, then the Court will most likely require that the unknown father be served by publication.

A part of this process is placing an ad in the local paper with a Notice of Petition to Adopt. The notice will include the names of the child’s mother and her husband, and it will state that the husband filed a petition to adopt the mother’s child, and that the name of the child’s father is unknown.

The Notice will be published once per week for four weeks. The unknown father will then have thirty days from the date of the last publication to file his objection to the adoption.

If no one files an objection, then the unknown father will be defaulted, and the adoption will be granted.

Unknown Father Comes Forward and Objects to Adoption

Believe it or not, sometimes a man will come forward, claim that he is the father, and object to the adoption. Perhaps they see the publication and they recall that wild night after the fair. Or they have seen you on social media, and recall your one night stand.

If an unknown father steps forward, the Court will order genetic testing to determine whether or not that man is actually the father of the child.

If he is, then the petition for adoption will probably be denied.

If he is not, then the adoption will probably be granted.

Conclusion

As you can see, a husband can adopt his wife’s child, even if the natural father is unknown.

By Steve Harton

If you would like some help with an adoption, schedule an appointment on line, or call 307-382-5545.

To learn more about adoptions, please check out the following:

Legal Advice for Divorce

Do you need legal advice for divorce? Maybe. But sometimes all you need is legal information.

If you have a simple case and just need to get divorced, then you probably do not need legal advice. You just need information on where to get the divorce forms, how to fill them, and then where to file them when you are done.

You can get this sort of legal information from books, court websites, and law firm websites like this one. However, you will not get legal advice for divorce from the internet.

In this post you will learn what legal advice is, when do you need it, where to get it, and whose legal advice you should avoid.

What is legal advice?

Advice is an opinion from someone not immediately concerned, as to what could or should be done about a problem. So legal advice is such an opinion about a legal problem.

When do you need legal advice?

You need legal advice when you have a specific legal problem, and you want to know what to do.

For instance, you want to move your kids out of state after your divorce. Would you be able to do it? This is a specific legal problem. The answer will be different for different situations.

Say you live in Baggs and want to move your kids to Denver. You may not be able to do it, because it is difficult to get to Denver from Baggs. Therefore, your move would impact the amount of time your ex will get to see the kids.

However, if you live in Rock Springs, which is much further from Denver, you might be able to make the move. Especially if you have plenty of money, and you can afford to put the kids on a plane every other weekend.

If you need help deciding what to do in your specific situation, then you need legal advice.

Where should you get legal advice for divorce?

You get legal advice from a lawyer, or maybe an experienced paralegal. (Just remember that not every person who works in a law office is a paralegal).

However, if you want legal advice for your divorce, then you should talk to a divorce lawyer.

Whose legal advice should you avoid?

You should not get legal advice from your friends who went through a divorce. Your friends are not disinterested in your situation. Your friends are your friends. They want to make you feel better. They want to share your pain with you.

The problem is that their divorce is not your divorce. Their spouse is not like your spouse. Your kids are not like their kids. Their divorce was about them, and that was their experience. They will give you advice about their situation, not yours.

You should use your friends for what a lawyer cannot give you. You should ask your friends about how to deal with the loss of a marriage, about co-parenting the kids, about dealing with the financial problems created by divorce.

Let your friends be your friends. Lean on them for emotional support. That is what good friends are good for.

By Steve Harton

 

 

 

How Much Does a Probate Lawyer Cost?

Probate is a scary word. You read about people’s advice to “avoid probate!” You hear that the government will take all the money in probate. (Not true, by the way). Probate is mysterious, and it will probably involve hiring a probate lawyer. But how much does a probate lawyer cost?

How much a probate lawyer charges will depend on the size of the estate.

Small estates with no real property may only cost a few hundred dollars. Larger estates with modestly priced real property might cost a couple of thousand. For estates with a value of over $200,000, a probate lawyer will cost about 2% of the value of the estate.

Small Estates With No Real Estate

In Wyoming, a small estate is one where the property has a value of less than $200,000. If there is no real property (land, house, etc.), then probate involves filing an Affidavit for Distribution with the County Clerk. This affidavit can be a simple two page document, or it can be a complex, multi page document. The complexity depends on the number of heirs, the number and nature of the assets, and how they are to be distributed.

Probate lawyers’ fees for small estates vary. We charge from $450 to $995*, depending on the complexity.

Small Estates With Real Estate

If the estate is valued at less than $200,000, but includes some real estate, then a probate lawyer will charge considerably more. This is because probating any real property requires the filing of a court proceeding. It will involve filing a petition for a decree of distribution, setting a court hearing, advertising the hearing in the newspaper, and preparing the Decree of Distribution.

Sometimes, though rarely, someone will object to the proposed distribution. In those cases, there will be court hearings, and a probate lawyer will cost even more.

We charge $1,500* in lawyer fees for this service, if there is no hearing. There are additional, non lawyer costs, such as filing fees, publication costs, and recording fees.

Formal Probate

When an estate is worth more than $200,000 in Wyoming, then it will have to go through a formal probate process.

The cost of a probate lawyer in a routine probate is set by Wyoming State Statute. It is a minimum of $4,450, and ends up being about 2% of the value of the estate.

If there are will contests, or lots of creditors, property needs to be sold during the probate, then the probate is not routine. In those cases, the court may allow additional attorney fees for extraordinary services.

Conclusion

How much a probate lawyer costs will depend on the size and the complexity of the case. It could be as little as a few hundred dollars for an Affidavit for Distribution. Or it could be tens of thousands of dollars for a large estate.

By Steve Harton

*Attorney fees are difficult to predict. The fees listed in this article are for illustration only. To find out the fee we would charge for your specific case, please talk to our attorney.