Heir Rights (WY)

As an heir, you likely have questions about the inheritance process in WY, and your rights.

Overall, if you are entitled to receive an inheritance, you have the right to expect to receive that inheritance ... eventually. While some states attempt to put deadlines on estate settlements, an average estate takes 16 months to settle, and some take years (see Inheritance Timing).

Rights Under WY Probate

Most estates are settled by an executor appointed by the court (often a family member), under a court-supervised process known as probate. The executor has significant discretionary power, but he or she has a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the estate, to follow the law, and to distribute estate proceeds to the rightful heirs.

However, WY estates must satisfy obligations according to priority (for example, debts take precedence over distributions), so in some cases your inheritance will be less than expected, or even be completely consumed by other estate priorities (which must generally affect all potential heirs proportionately). See Estate Expenses, Fees, and Taxes for more information, and note that for your protection, estate executors must document all estate transactions and make these records available to the courts ... and in some states, must proactively deliver these records in a Final Accounting to the heirs as well.

Your rights as an heir include:

Notice: Many states have laws that require an estate executor to notify you of the death and the estate proceeding if you are mentioned in the will, if there is no will and you are entitled to inherit by intestate succession, or even if there is a will that doesn't mention you, but you would have been entitled to inherit by intestate succession (i.e., you are an "heir-at-law").
Estate Information: Many states require the executor to provide you a copy of the estate inventory, as well as a Final Accounting (what happened to the inventory, what estate expenses were incurred, etc.). If the estate is undergoing probate, and the state does not require that the executor directly supply you the information, you can simply make a public records request for the reports filed with the court.
WY Family Entitlements: If you are a surviving spouse or dependent child, you likely have additional rights that go beyond anything mentioned in the will or mandated by the laws of intestate succession. Surviving family members often have the right to remain living in the family home for a certain period of time, to automatically receive certain personal possessions, to receive a living allowance from the estate while it is being settled, and to receive certain minimum amounts (see WY Family Entitlement details for your state).
Reasonable Timeframe: Unless the asset is one that automatically transfers on death (such as an IRA with a named beneficiary), you can expect the process to take 12-18 months on average, and sometimes considerably longer (see Inheritance Timing). An executor has a duty to settle an estate in a reasonable timeframe, but most states are very lenient about such timeframes, and there are legitimate reasons that some estates take years to settle. On the other hand, some executor simply cannot handle the task, or unreasonably delay, and those can be grounds to ask the court to remove the executor and appoint someone else.
Court Objections: If the estate undergoes probate (and most do), you have the right to object to the probate court about anything you think is being done incorrectly or improperly. You can object to the appointment of a particular executor, you can object to the validity of a will, you can object to particular distributions (not just your own), you can object to sales of assets, you can object to how long things are taking ... in fact, you can object to almost anything. You just need to make sure you have valid grounds for doing so, and it's important to realize that settling an estate is a difficult task that takes time. See Court to find your particular court.
Lawsuits: If the probate judge does not respond to your objection as desired, or if there is no probate proceeding, then you can file a civil lawsuit against the estate. Such lawsuits can be expensive, and should be considered only as a last resort.

Additional considerations:

Expectations: Please keep in mind that although a will may be specific about an intended inheritance, other factors can sometimes intervene to modify or even entirely invalidate the inheritance. See WY Rules of Inheritance for details.
Inheritance Taxes: Some states have inheritance taxes for which the executor has the responsibility of paying, out of your share, before giving you your remaining inheritance. If your executor is using EstateExec, it will tell him or her if such taxes apply.
Executor Discretion: Unless the inheritance is a specific bequest, the executor may have some discretion in deciding how to give you your share of an estate. The executor may decide to liquidate assets and give you all cash (and cash equivalents), or the executor may mix and match assets to equal your share. You have to the right to ask for your share to be given in a certain form, but the executor does not have to respect your wishes. For this reason (and others), it is advisable to try to retain a good relationship with the executor (see Working with Executors).
Inheritance Receipts: When you receive an inheritance, the executor will likely ask you to sign a receipt, which can be required. However, the executor will often ask you, as a condition of receiving the proceeds, to waive any rights you may to decide to sue the estate or the executor in the future. Such waivers are best practice for an executor, but heirs are not required to waive their rights, so the decision is up to you. It may be best to sign anyway, to preserve the relationship and to receive your inheritance in a timely manner, but your ultimate recourse is to either convince the executor to drop the waiver, or object to the court.

WY Small Estate Rights

Most states have laws enabling small estates to be settled without full probate, sometimes without any court involvement at all. In such cases, there may be no formally appointed executor, and the heir can directly collect any inheritance to which he or she is entitled, by providing appropriate documentation to the current asset holders.

In Wyoming, small estates can completely bypass probate via small estate affidavit, or simplify it via summary administration. Regardless of estate size, probate is not required if an estate contains only assets exempt from probate.

Small Estate Affidavit

If a Wyoming estate has a gross value <$200,000, you can use the small estate process to settle the estate with limited court involvement.

Requirements

To use the small estate process, the following conditions must be true:

The entire WY probate estate has a gross value <$200K
At least 30 days have passed since the death
No petition has already been made to a court in WY to officially appoint a personal representative

In determining the gross value of the WY estate, you should value assets as of the date of death, and ignore any unsecured debts (but do subtract things like liens and mortgages). Do not include real estate in other states, or any assets that would not normally go through probate, such as community property with right of survivorship, assets with named beneficiaries (e.g., 401Ks, life insurance policies), and other standard probate exclusions.

Process

To use the small estate process:

Prepare a Small Estate Affidavit (see below)
Submit the affidavit (along with a copy of the death certificate and the will if one exists) to the county clerk to get it certified
Obtain possession of estate assets by presenting the certified affidavit to current custodians (this affidavit cannot be used to collect real estate)
Settle the estate in the normal way (pay debts, distribute remaining assets)

Affidavit

You can use this Small WY Estate Affidavit Form by the OpenDocs project (which includes quite a bit not required by law), or create your own.

If you choose to create your own, note that a small estate affidavit must include:

The name of the decedent, address, and date of death
Statements that the above requirements have been met (list each one)
A statement that to the best of your knowledge, no affidavit pursuant to W.S. 2-1-201, in connection with the decedent, has been presented to any party referred to in W.S. 2-1-201
A description of the assets being claimed (consider attaching the EstateExec Inventory Report)
A statement that you and any other affidavit signatories are entitled to payment or delivery of the property, your relationship(s) to the decedent, the legal basis upon which you are entitled to the property (i.e., details of the will or intestate succession), and that there are no other distributees of the decedent having a right to succeed to the property under probate proceedings in any jurisdiction
If an application for appointment of a personal representative has been made in a jurisdiction outside of WY, also include the name and address of the personal representative, the date of the application and the date of any appointment, and the title of the proceedings and name of the court and jurisdiction in which the application was made

Each signature on the affidavit must be made in the presence of a notary public, and the affidavit notarized. It is not necessary to try to unify everything into a single affidavit, but that can sometimes be the most efficient, especially since you will have to pay to get each signature notarized.

See WY Stat § 2-1-201.

Summary Administration

Alternately, you can use summary administration (also known as simplified probate) if the WY estate has a gross value <$200,000 but you cannot or do not want to use a small estate affidavit because the estate contains real property (i.e., real estate), or you simply want more court involvement so that enforcement and protection are a bit more formalized.

Requirements

You can use summary administration if the following are true:

The entire WY probate estate has a gross value <$200K
At least 30 days have passed since the death
No petition has already been made to a court in WY to officially appoint a personal representative

Process

To settle an estate via summary administration:

Get an official appraisal (including mineral interests) for any WY real estate in the estate
Submit to the court an Application for Summary Administration (see below)
Publish a notice of your application once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, or otherwise as the court may order
Within 10 days of the first notice publication, send a copy via first class mail to the last known address of any reasonably ascertainable creditors and to any surviving spouse and to all other distributees (or their guardians if minors), so far as known, or to their personal representatives if any are deceased.
Within 10 days of the first notice publication, send a copy to the WY Department of Health if the decedent received medical assistance from the state pursuant to WY Stat § 42-4-101 through 114
Provide to the court an affidavit from the newspaper that it published the notice, and provide a notarized statement yourself saying that you mailed any required notices, stating the name and address of every person you notified
Upon approval, the court will issue a decree establishing the right and title to the property
Use this decree to collect estate assets, and then settle the estate in the normal way (pay debts, make distributions)

Application

The application must:

Include the name of the decedent, address, and date of death
State that the above requirements have been met (list each one)
List the WY estate contents subject to probate (consider attaching an EstateExec Inventory Report)
Fully describe any real estate being claimed, including any mineral interests, and include a notarized broker's price opinion for the date of death by a broker with no legal interest in the estate
State that you and any other affidavit signatories are entitled to payment or delivery of the property, your relationship(s) to the decedent, the legal basis upon which you are entitled to the property (i.e., details of the will or intestate succession), and that there are no other distributees of the decedent having a right to succeed to the property under probate proceedings in any jurisdiction
If an application for appointment of a personal representative has been made in a jurisdiction outside of WY, also include the name and address of the personal representative, the date of the application and the date of any appointment, and the title of the proceedings and name of the court and jurisdiction in which the application was made

Attach a copy of the death certificate and the will (if there is no will, attach a list of the intestate heirs, including names, addresses, and relationships to the decedent)

See WY Stat § 2-1-205.

Estate Settlement Considerations

Before paying any debts or making any distributions, be sure to account for any Family Entitlements in WY, which typically have priority over everything except expenses of the last illness, funeral charges, and any estate administrations expenses.

Even if the estate does not go through probate, you may still be entitled to Executor Compensation in WY, and this compensation also has priority over most estate debts.

Estate debts have priority over most distributions in turn, so before distributing assets you should resolve any estate debts. If the estate makes any distributions beyond amounts set aside for family entitlements, unpaid creditors have the right to sue the recipients for repayment using those excess distributions. Consequently, even if the settlement process does not require you to publish a Notice to Creditors, you may want to follow WY probate rules for finding estate debts, since doing so may limit the time creditors have to pursue repayment.

If estate solvency is uncertain, an executor should consider going through official probate for the increased creditor protection it offers. Alternately, such uncertainty can sometimes persuade creditors to forgive a portion of debts, since they will want to avoid legal expenses as well, and may prefer to get something rather than nothing.

Court

In Wyoming, the county District Court handles wills and estate matters.

Estate Debts

Finally, note that as an heir, you are NOT responsible for paying the debts of the WY estate out of your own funds. You do NOT inherit responsibility for paying the debts of parents, for example. If the estate is insolvent (i.e., cannot pay all its bills), then creditors simply end up with less than owed, or even nothing ... as do you.

If an estate ends up being insolvent, and you somehow received a distribution anyway (perhaps through a small estate process), some states allow creditors to sue you to reclaim any amounts they are still owed. So you can't inherit a debt outright, but if you receive a distribution that the estate needed to pay its bills, you may be forced to pay out some or all of that distribution.

Additional Information

For more information about inheritances in general, see EstateExec Heir Guide.

In case you're interested, heir rights in other states can be found here:

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