u/Whole_Sir3574

My mother passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack.  I am my mother's only child. We were very close (I saw her every single week) and I am heartbroken. My mother was a simple person and didn't have much to her name at all. Location: Florida

She did not list me as beneficiary on the 401k (only $8,000) and life insurance. (only $6,500).  I did find her OLD 401k paperwork that she listed me as 100% beneficiary. She has worked at a restaurant for 30 years as a hostess and when she set up the 401k when she first started working there, she listed me as the beneficiary. However, when the restaurant switched 401k providers, she did not update the paperwork as me as the beneficiary. 

My mom barely had any assets:

$8,000 401k

$6,500 life insurance

I think she has around $2,000 in Chase bank

An old car that is over 20 years old and would probably go to the junk yard.

She has around 5k in debt (How do we stop the creditors from charging more money in interest and late fees to my mom's estate?)

And here is the kicker- my Dad has been living in another state with his girlfriend (My Dad and Mom separated over 32 years ago)  and him and my mom, I found out, are still legally married.  My Dad ended up calling me after he found out my mom died (I haven't talked to him in YEARS) and said he would gladly mail me all the funds from her estate as he knows he hasn't talked to my mom in over 30 years and he knows how close my mom and I were since all we had was each other. 

With how much little money we are dealing with, I am unsure how to go about this. Help!!

My mother passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack.  I am my mother's only child. We were very close (I saw her every single week) and I am heartbroken. My mother was a simple person and didn't have much to her name at all.  We live in Florida.

She did not list me as beneficiary on the 401k (only $8,000) and life insurance. (only $6,500).  I did find her OLD 401k paperwork that she listed me as 100% beneficiary. She has worked at a restaurant for 30 years as a hostess and when she set up the 401k when she first started working there, she listed me as the beneficiary. However, when the restaurant switched 401k providers, she did not update the paperwork as me as the beneficiary. 

My mom barely had any assets:

$8,000 401k

$6,500 life insurance

I think she has around $2,000 in Chase bank

An old car that is over 20 years old and would probably go to the junk yard.

She has around 5k in debt (How do we stop the creditors from charging more money in interest and late fees to my mom's estate?)

And here is the kicker- my Dad has been living in another state with his girlfriend (My Dad and Mom separated over 32 years ago)  and him and my mom, I found out, are still legally married.  My Dad ended up calling me after he found out my mom died (I haven't talked to him in YEARS) and said he would gladly mail me all the funds from her estate as he knows he hasn't talked to my mom in over 30 years and he knows how close my mom and I were since all we had was each other. 

With how much little money we are dealing with, I am unsure how to go about this. Help!!

My mother passed away last week. I am her only child. I am devastated as my mom and I were very close. We saw each other every single week. Basically it was just me and my mom growing up my whole life (my Dad left when I was little)

My mom was technically legally married (her and my Dad separated 32 years ago and he has been living in Pennsylvania with his girlfriend of 12 years). My mom had a 401k (valued at 8K) and a life insurance valued at $6,500. She did not name me as beneficiary on the 401k and life insurance (I guess she forgot to do that when she signed up for one over 25 years ago). When I cleaned out her condo this weekend, I found a credit card bill for 5k.

Also, do we need to serve an official notice to creditors via the local newspaper? Is that necessary without probate and if I do, what exactly do I need to include? Or do I call the creditor directly?

What do I need to do to protect myself? We are not doing probate. Location: Florida

My mother passed away last week. I am her only child. She had a car over 20 years old. It doesn't drive well and over 187k miles. Probably not worth much at all. Assuming we will go to a scrap dealer.

We did find her title and my mom was technically legally married (her and my Dad separated 32 years ago and he has been living in Pennsylvania with his girlfriend of 12 years). My mom had no will and we are confused on the right way to sell/scrap this car. What do I need to do? Location: Florida. I am not sure if my mom had any debt. I do know she didn't have a car loan since she had the title.