Sometimes That Task Won’t Be So Hard!

Who knew that finding a parking spot in the garage near the courthouse would turn out to be more challenging than getting that essential form?

Sometimes, that task you put off isn’t as hard as you think it will be. Yes, even when it involves complicated paperwork. And yes, even when it involves the paperwork that comes after the death of a loved one.

As hard as that sort of paperwork can be, there are going to be people out there who help make it easier for you. From government workers to bankers.

On the Way to the Towson Courthouse. (Source: Photo by the Author.)

Everywhere a Form

This lesson occurred to me when I took care of some paperwork at the Register of Wills in Towson, Maryland, recently. I’d put this off for weeks because their form seemed so daunting. A few months ago, I closed my mother’s estate. It was challenging for personal reasons — but easier than you’d think.

The phrase Petition for Administration of a Will of No Estate sounds scary. But the paperwork form for what’s called a “Will of No Estate” was not complicated at all.

I filled it out, got copies of the documentation, and went to the Register of Wills inside the Towson Courthouse. (Official name: Baltimore County Courts Building.) Everything went quickly. My parents had planned their estate out well — no surprise as Dad had been an actuary for the State of Maryland.

With the new form and other documents in hand, I went to the bank and sat with the kind woman who had taken care of my mother’s banking for the past few years. So she took care of everything for me, too.

Then, after everything was filed, I received a check in my mother’s name. And another. Whoops? The estate was closed. So I knew I’d have to take another step.

So it was back to the bank. And she told me that I would need to reopen my mother’s estate. This time, it would have to be a “Will of Small Estate.”

More Paperwork? Eww!

Then, I downloaded the PDF from the Register of Wills website. What is this question?! Wait, wait?! I don’t even know the answer to this! Why am I called an “attorney” on this weird form?

I forced myself to fill out what I could. I stewed. I filled out a little more…