My dad passed away ten years ago. As the surviving spouse, my mom has been getting pay-outs from an asbestosis settlement. Most recently, the banks have refused to cash or even allow her to deposit the checks without an estateaccount. How do we go about setting this account up after ten years?
You'll need to find out about the laws on estate settlement in your state. These laws normally call for an estate to be settled relatively soon after death, because it is in everyone's best interest to have matters of ownership resolved and funds passed along to heirs. Your state may not allow the opening of an estate account ten years after the fact.
If the settlement on the asbestosis claim still has a number of serial payments left, it may be better to find out whether the trustee of the settlement plan has procedures to transfer ownership of the claim into your mother's name. Ordinarily, handling that sort of thing would be one of the duties of the executor or administrator of an estate. Since your dad's estate appears not to have been settled, updating the claimant records is a step that has never been taken. Contacting the party making the claim payments is the best first step for your mother to take.
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You'll need to find out about the laws on estate settlement in your state. These laws normally call for an estate to be settled relatively soon after death, because it is in everyone's best interest to have matters of ownership resolved and funds passed along to heirs. Your state may not allow the opening of an estate account ten years after the fact.