An ancillary estate is an estate outside of the deceased's domicile (home state or jurisdiction) that can be subject to a separate, simultaneous probate process known as ancillary probate.
What you need to know
Ancillary estates are estates that often go through a separate, simultaneous probate process located in a separate jurisdiction from the deceased domicile, or permanent residence.
Ancillary estates are what ancillary probate resolves in the eyes of the court.
An executor is responsible for dissolving all parts of a deceased, or decedent's, estate — including ancillary estates in other jurisdictions.
You can give someone legal powers in the state of the ancillary estate to help reduce travel and logistical expenses.
Just like normal probate, how the ancillary estate is owned could impact the level of probate you need to undergo, from skipping it entirely to a fully supervised version.
When someone dies, a portion of their assets are usually subject to probate, which is just the court's official process for distributing and dissolving what someone owned. The laws that dictate this process vary by state and jurisdiction, which means the person settling the estate (the executor) needs to conduct the probate process in accordance with the laws from where the deceased live.
It gets more complicated when someone owned properties and lived in multiple states. There is a legal term called domicile that helps navigate this. Domicile is someone's "home base" in the eyes of the courts. This is where someone votes, pays taxes, works from, etc. You can only have one domicile.
An ancillary estate is an estate that exists in a separate jurisdiction from someone's domicile. So if the deceased lived in New York City their entire lives and was always their permanent residence, but they also had a cabin in Montana they would spend part of the year in, the executor or personal representative would need to go through an ancillary probate process to dissolve that ancillary estate.
What to do when a loved one dies
When people die, they leave behind a life that must be closed out. Don't tackle it all alone. From planning the funeral to tackling the legal & financial estate, here's an ultimate checklist of all the things an executor needs to do following the loss of a loved one.
Learn moreJack loved the idea of sailing but lived in the land-lubbing Tennesseean Appalachians his entire life. His family was there. He paid taxes. He voted. His future cemetery plot was there — everything.
But... when Jack retired he bought a house in Treasure Island, Florida to finally live out his sailing dreams. He would spend every winter there, loving his life and making horrible Bubba Gump jokes. Jack unfortunately passed away without a will, and his daughter Sarah decided to take on the responsibility of being the executor (or executrix, rather).
While going through this process, she realized that TN was her dad's domicile, or permanent residence, but his house in Florida was subject to different probate laws and needed an entirely separate probate process. This other house, along with all the other assets in Florida, are collectively known as Jack's ancillary estate.
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Nathan Phelps
Nathan is a Sr. Content Lead at Atticus and owner of Crafted Copy, a boutique copywriting and marketing shop based out of Nashville, TN. He has written hundreds of articles, white papers, and emails in industries like estate settlement, finance, and psychology, and his writing is read by millions of people across the internet each year.
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