If my mothers assets are only money in bank does the will have to be probated?

You can prove sale and date of sale by going to courthouse of county where property was sold. You probably did that. If you have an attorney they should be able to sort this out or tell you what to do IF they are competent in Elder Law. If they are not an Elder Law specialized attorney - seek one out. You have a real mess, a nasty brother and sounds like a NH trying to cover tracks. Have you contacted Medicaid? If house was sold within 5 year look back - they will get THEIRS but you probably will never see a cent. Crap happens and it happens all the time. I am very sorry for your plight. Wish I could offer more hope. Maybe someone else can.

still trying to get this mess settled.

i am in a bind. my brother and sisi-n- law held my mother at thier house in florida it was nov. 2008. theywould not let her talk to anyone. i was suppose to pick her up in jan.2009 after christmas. she was not able tocall anyone because bro and wife took phones with them. she was 90 yrs old. i found on the web her house was sold for cash in mar.2010. i called police and they did a house check..nieghbors said they bought the house from my brother.i finally found her in a medicaid n/h in tennessee. i called ombudsman and talked with legal aid. when i got to the n/h...1200miles round trip, i had proof the house was sold, i told director she did not need medicaid the nursing home had acceptrd her in the middle of night with 5 fist sized septic bed sores and broken ribs. nobody called to report it. when i found her she looked like hell. no teeth, no hearing , no recliner for her to sit in. i offered to pay myself but n/h said poa said she does not need anything. he ,brother had dpoa, and a revocable trust,but nobody will confirm wether it was fraud. flordia atty will not co operate. i got an atty. from nashville and he could not confirm either. when mom say revocable trust she said i did not sign this, i told her put a line through it till legal aid comes tomorrow. n/h pulled the trust out of her hands. by the end of the month i secured the attny and my attny called n/h and said mom wats to go live with me, oldest daughter. n/h director said, if she wants to go, and i have no court orders,she can go. my husband took off work and we went to get her. when we arrived the director said i changed my mind. he already tampered with her medical records and scribbled on page after page so i could not see what happened when she was brought in. she cried when she say house was sold,no trust number on the paper that said ,mike,poa for family trust. i already called aps,ombudsman...she never looked back the 5 years,she quit. i had court date in august which was cancelled the day before because brother go an attny. next court date in sept. the court orders and my petition did not match. dr made mom incompedent cause he could nt wake her up. they also said she was destitute. how do they know that. i also have court orders the n/h was to give me medical records. n/h refused and i am suppose to go back to tn. put in civel complaint and come back after court date was set. also i supenied n/h with moms records, he was never even called in. brother was to bring records and reciepts of moms. he told judge he doesn't keep reciepts but did admit he spent about 250k from trust he needed the money. judge let brother keep conservership in medicaid, when bc/bs long term care was dropped for non payment. i told them she was still alive and if i paid back payments, they would reinstate her, after paying on it for past 25-30 years. mom died in feb.2012. still no will no probate and hhs still do not know who okeyed medicaid. i have called so many numbers and they pass the buck. brother still wheeling and dealing but no probate or will produced. what can i do? who enforces the laws about fraud,explotation and abuse? the trust was revocable with mom as trustee, if n/h would of left things alone i would not be out of thousands of dollars. medicare will recovery money for n/h only. every thing has gone down the drain. brother told me mom died but never told me where she was laid out and buried. death certificate is full of phony info and i cannot afford to fix it. thanks for reading, peggy

If the bank account is jointly held, it does not have to go through probate. The money can be taken out by the person whose name was on the account with your mother. If the money is in her name alone, the amount will have to go through probate before it can be legally withdrawn.