Probate Deal Finding Strat

[Rich Hupper]

Hi BP

I finally have a system for finding probate deals. There is a website in Massachusetts that allows you to search the probate case files. What I do is the following

1) search for all cases open 

2) google the decedent

3) find the decedent obituary

4) read obituary and see if any of the people listed in the obituary are mentioned in the probate case file as a "petitioner" "fiduciary" "personal rep"

5) continuing reading obituary figure out which town the decedent resided

6) go to the town assessor website listed in the obituary as the decedent's home town

7) search assessor website by the decedent's name find address where they lived.

8) google where the "petitioner" "fiduciary" "personal rep" lives.

9) mail the all the addresses related to the decedent and the "petitioner" "fiduciary" "personal rep"

My questions to the seasoned probate investors would be

1) do i want to look for recently closed, reopened, active or suspended probate case files

2) do i want to look for probate case files that have been active for a while or ones recently opened. Or do I want to look for files that have been closed for a while.

3) what power do these titles have in terms of being a decision maker in the disposition of real property. "petitioner" "fiduciary" "personal rep".

4) property held in trust bypasses probate, however can a will appoint new trustees to a trust? 

5) Would probate ever be needed to dispose of property held in trust? ( the reason i ask is because i found a piece of property held in trust but there was an open probate case for the decedent who was the trustee for that trust ).

Thank you