My question involves estate proceedings in the state of: NJ
I do family gemological research and wanted to reach out to an uncle who had not maintained contact with the family over many years to see if he could help with family details. About 10 months ago, I asked my sister in NJ drive to his last known address to attempt to restore contact with him, where she discovered that he had died some years ago. The landlord claimed he died in the hospital and said he had a box of papers from cleaning out the apartment.
My sister had no success getting this box form the former landlord over a couple of months, so then I took over from California. I spent 9 months regularly calling the person with the box and he continuing to promise to send it to me (I would pay the cost). Finally, he sent the box this past weekend and I spent a good deal of time sorting what papers were there.
He lived with his mother (my grandmother) until she died in 1991 and then lived by himself another 20 years until he died Feb 28, 2011 from the death certificate. He was divorced from a wife back in 1976. There are no known children. He was apparently quite sick (on methadone, had AIDS, had diabetes, etc.) and was in/out of the hospital regularly. He seems to have died in the hospital as the former landlord said he did not die in the apartment.
I have a death certificate from the town he lived in, so know where he was buried. The SS Administration does not have a record of his death.
I have no idea how his estate (what there might have been of it) was processed, if he had a will, what happened to any bank accounts (I have account number and bank name of his last account but no idea of how much, if any money might have been in the account) or if he had a safe deposit box, if he owed taxes, etc. He received monthly SS and a pension amount, which was direct deposited. He apparently has two cars registered in his name and I have the bill of sale of the older car. The landlord says at least one car is still at the apartment complex! The other car is missing. Perhaps he drove it to the hospital, where it was eventually considered abandoned and towed away?
It looks like I and my two sisters are his closest living relatives.
I am going to try and call the hospital, cemetery and funeral director to find out how he died and what happened after that. But I am not confident that the hospital will give me any info due to HIPAA laws.
Can anyone help give me some direction on how to proceed?
I am guessing I am going to need to obtain some legal document to access much of this information. What document would that be and how do I go about obtaining such a document?
I found this URL which looks useful: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclope...-overview.html
However, it seems to apply to a death that occurred recently. What to do about a death that is heading to 8 years old?
I do family gemological research and wanted to reach out to an uncle who had not maintained contact with the family over many years to see if he could help with family details. About 10 months ago, I asked my sister in NJ drive to his last known address to attempt to restore contact with him, where she discovered that he had died some years ago. The landlord claimed he died in the hospital and said he had a box of papers from cleaning out the apartment.
My sister had no success getting this box form the former landlord over a couple of months, so then I took over from California. I spent 9 months regularly calling the person with the box and he continuing to promise to send it to me (I would pay the cost). Finally, he sent the box this past weekend and I spent a good deal of time sorting what papers were there.
He lived with his mother (my grandmother) until she died in 1991 and then lived by himself another 20 years until he died Feb 28, 2011 from the death certificate. He was divorced from a wife back in 1976. There are no known children. He was apparently quite sick (on methadone, had AIDS, had diabetes, etc.) and was in/out of the hospital regularly. He seems to have died in the hospital as the former landlord said he did not die in the apartment.
I have a death certificate from the town he lived in, so know where he was buried. The SS Administration does not have a record of his death.
I have no idea how his estate (what there might have been of it) was processed, if he had a will, what happened to any bank accounts (I have account number and bank name of his last account but no idea of how much, if any money might have been in the account) or if he had a safe deposit box, if he owed taxes, etc. He received monthly SS and a pension amount, which was direct deposited. He apparently has two cars registered in his name and I have the bill of sale of the older car. The landlord says at least one car is still at the apartment complex! The other car is missing. Perhaps he drove it to the hospital, where it was eventually considered abandoned and towed away?
It looks like I and my two sisters are his closest living relatives.
I am going to try and call the hospital, cemetery and funeral director to find out how he died and what happened after that. But I am not confident that the hospital will give me any info due to HIPAA laws.
Can anyone help give me some direction on how to proceed?
I am guessing I am going to need to obtain some legal document to access much of this information. What document would that be and how do I go about obtaining such a document?
I found this URL which looks useful: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclope...-overview.html
However, it seems to apply to a death that occurred recently. What to do about a death that is heading to 8 years old?
Estate Assets and Debts: Post-Mortem Research
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