Email the DC Courts Webmaster at webmaster [at] dcsc.gov (webmaster[at]dcsc[dot]gov).

Contact the insurance company to determine its procedure for assuming the policy owned by a deceased person. An estate may need to be opened if the insurance policy is being cashed and the proceeds paid to the decedent’s estate.

No, unless you would like to hire an attorney to assist you. Small estate petitions are fairly simple to complete. Small estate specialists are available in the Legal Branch of the Probate Division to answer any questions remaining when the petitions are filed.

The expenses that are eligible for reimbursement are Court costs, publication costs, administrative costs, and/or statutory funeral costs.

None.

A guardian of a minor’s estate is a person appointed by the Court to handle the assets of a minor and to safeguard them until the minor becomes 18.

A conservator is someone who is appointed by the Court in response to the filing of a petition for a general proceeding to handle income or assets of the ward for the support, care, and welfare of the ward so that they will not be wasted or dissipated.

A guardian ad litem helps the subject determine the subject’s interests in regard to the petition for a general proceeding. If the subject is unconscious or otherwise wholly incapable of determining his or her interests even with assistance, the guardian ad litem makes that determination. The need for such an appointment depends upon the circumstances of the case, and appointment of a guardian ad litem is not requested very often.

A guardian is someone who is appointed by the Court in response to the filing of a petition for a general proceeding to make health care, quality of life, placement (housing), and legal decisions for an incapacitated individual who is eighteen or older.

The petitioner is the person who files the petition for a general proceeding seeking appointment of a guardian and/or conservator for the subject.