Is it an Ancillary Estate? (Or does it just quack like one?)

We all know the old saying along the lines of: if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.

However, there are a couple of situations I routinely encounter that are close to requiring an ancillary estate. They may be called that name by the prospective client or others. And they may be ancillary in the very general sense of the word. But they do not meet the technical definition of an ancillary estate under Oklahoma law.

A couple of the most common are discussed below:

No Domiciliary Estate

Sometimes, there is no estate in the home state of the person who dies.

This could be for several reasons. Maybe they moved late in life and acquired no property. Maybe the property in the home state was in trust.

But if there is no home state probate, there can be by definition no ancillary probate.

We can still help in that situation. The solution is likely to bring an estate in Oklahoma to cover property in Oklahoma, even if there is not a proceeding in the home state. (Some practitioners call this admitting a foreign will to probate. This seems to be a description of the situation, rather than a separate set of statutes or rules governing the process.)

This may be a close cousin of the ancillary estate. But it is not a true ancillary estate under Oklahoma law. It is more of a conventional estate.

No Order Distributing

We will get into the requirements for an ancillary estate in more detail in later posts. If you are on the edge of your seat and cannot wait – you can read more here.

But the missing requirement under the ancillary estate requirements in Oklahoma law is usually not having an order distributing the estate in the home state.

If there is no order distributing in the home state, there can be by definition no ancillary probate.

We can still help in that situation. The solution is to likely use a slightly different process to admit the will (or appoint the administrator if no will), and then to follow the conventional process.

This is another close cousin of the ancillary estate. But it is not a true ancillary estate under Oklahoma law.

Confused by an Ancillary Estate or one of the scenarios in this post?

If you are confused by something you are facing or one of your clients is facing in this area, reach out to me directly at: CoryHicks@FieldAndHicks. We can work through it together.