My significant other of many years passed away recently (with no will) due to alcohol-caused liver failure. We never married and had no financial ties, both due to his previous obligations and my desire to remain financially independent. In recent years he paid his children's (aged 17 & 19) child support with proceeds from his own mother's inheritence, which he literally 'cashed out' at the bank. He kept no bank accounts due to Mass DOR previously cleaning out his accounts due to past child support. He had no other savings, pension, 401K, or investment accounts. At the end of his life he died indigent, with only his personal clothing and family keepsakes left behind. He was in home-hospice care at my home until his death, and all his personal belongings and his last $94 in a money clip was given to his daughter and son prior to his passing. My question is: does his 19-year-old daughter have to file anything to probate? It costs $135 to file papers that say he had nothing in his estate. There are definitely creditors: a few recent medical bills and one very old from a debt collection company claiming a debt from the '90s. They have quickly started sending notices to his daughter's address, since she is next-of-kin. His sisters and brother and I split the cost of his cremation. I want his daughter to do the 'right thing', but in principle it should not cost 'more money' to officially say he had no estate. Thank you for your help.