Title: UK family member dealing with uncle’s estate in the USA — where do I start?

Hi everyone,

I’m based in the UK and have been asked by my family to try to deal with some of the practical/legal side of my uncle’s affairs in the USA after his demise.

The situation is a bit complicated because his next of kin/family is in Iran, while other family members are in the UK. I’m essentially trying to help coordinate things from the UK.

At this point, we mainly want to:

• Obtain his death certificate (or understand who is entitled to request it).
• Find out which state/county is responsible for handling his estate. I believe it is Allegheny County.
• Establish whether he left any assets, property, bank accounts, insurance, pensions, etc.
• Make sure there isn't anything legally owed to him or his estate that the family needs to claim.
• Understand whether probate is required, particularly if there turns out to be very little or nothing in the estate.
• Work out whether I can do any of this from the UK or whether someone in the US needs to act on behalf of the family.

We don't believe he had significant assets. I believe we might even pay more than his assets for lawyers so want to do this with minimal fees if possible.

I’m also trying to understand whether we need to involve a US probate/estate attorney. If so, would this normally be something where you can arrange a fixed-fee service, rather than paying an unknown amount of hourly legal fees? If anyone has dealt with something similar, I’d appreciate an idea of what a reasonable fee might be for a relatively simple/low-value estate.

I'm not looking for someone to provide specific legal advice — just trying to understand the best order of steps and who I should contact first, as we're dealing with this from overseas and I honestly don't know where to begin.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.