Administrator and Attorney being Evasive

[cfeliss]

in California,

Dad died intestate. House was sold before filed for probate in May,2005.

So just a bunch of cash and annuities in estate. No creditors, etc.

It took the Administrator until Jan 24, 2006 to file the Inventory and Appraisal.

Beneficiaries are asking the Administrator what is the status of the rest of the Probate. She will not give any details, only says the attorney is doing whatever needs to be done. We are wondering what is taking so long. We asked her to ask the attorney and she has refused. We have called the attorney and sent a certified letter asking for a comittment on the rest of probate and he has not responded.

He told us that this would all be finished up in September, then October, then November, etc.

The attorney is on Suspend Probation for dragging his feet on other cases.

What can we do to expedite this process, or at least get a comittment from this attorney that he isnt going to drag this out for 2 more years?

All we want is some information other than a blanket statement " he is working on it" , from the Administrator.

The reason we are wanting this is because my father died in April, 04 and it took until May, 2005 to even get around to beginning probate, with no explanation of why.

 

[BlondiePB]

What can we do to expedite this process, or at least get a comittment from this attorney that he isnt going to drag this out for 2 more years?

Hire your own attorney. The administrator and her attorney have no legal obligation to answer to you. Have you even looked in the probate file to see what has been done? It's a public record.

 

[cfeliss]

answer to administrator and attorney evasive california

Yes, I have gotten copies of everything to date. That is how we know thing are going so slow and they dont add up to what we are being told. It has been almost two years now, and they just now filed the Inventory and Appraisal.

We want to get a comittment from the attorney of how much longer this is going to take.

 

[BlondiePB]

Yes, I have gotten copies of everything to date. That is how we know thing are going so slow and they dont add up to what we are being told. It has been almost two years now, and they just now filed the Inventory and Appraisal.

We want to get a comittment from the attorney of how much longer this is going to take.

It's waaay past time to hire your own attorney.

 

[Dandy Don]

Can you afford to hire an attorney now? You may not necessarily need one at this point but if you had one you would probably be more likely to get answers from the other side.

Does the inventory show the specific value of each asset?

Find out whether this administrator has posted an executor's bond for this estate or whether he is exempted from doing so. If a bond was purchased it would protect the financial interest of the beneficiaries.

There is no excuse for his lack of communication unless he is trying to hide something or perhaps doing it out of spite. You could probably accomplish just as much by sending him a certified letter with a few questions--then he would have no excuse for not answering in timely fashion.

You need to find out:

(1) The name of the company holding the annuities and if each annuity has a designated beneficiary or not and the amount of the annuity.

(2) The name and address of the bank holding the bank account money, how much is there, and exactly whose names are on the account and whether there is a designated beneficiary for the account.

I'm concerned that he may not be telling you all that if there are beneficiaries designated, then that money goes directly to the beneficiaries and therefore this money passes outside of probate and should never have been reported as probate assets. Let's hope that some of the annuities DO NOT HAVE designated beneficiaries and therefore would be put into the estate for dividing amongst the legal heirs.

(3) Is the money from the sale of the home in an estate account for distribution to the heirs or has it been paid out to the wife?

If possible you need to find out when the next probate court hearing for this estate is and try to attend or get your attorney to attend to find out the current status of probate and please look at the probate file to see what has already been done.

I'm concerned that he is afraid to tell you the value of the estate because maybe there is nothing left to pay out.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[cfeliss]

Attorney and Administrator Evasive

Thanks,

but the concern is not what is in the estate etc., there is a Bond in place.

The only concern is that the attorney and the Administrator are moving so slowly, and making alot of unnecessary mistakes. He is a Bankruptcy expert, not a Probate expert.

I have gotten copies of everything in the file to date.

What I am asking is, when we have an attorney and an Administrator that are both quite happy to do all the steps poorly and slowly, and cause all these delays that are not really necessary, what do the other 5 beneficiaries do?

All we want is to do whatever we can do to get this moving along quickly. It is such a simple estate, there is no reason for all these delays.

We ask the Administrator to get a committment from him, or a status report from him, to make him accountable, and she refuses to do that. I suspect that it is because she is at least half at fault for all the delays.

If I hire an attorney to send a letter to this attorney, will he be obligated to answer our questions. I dont want to waste money, just to have him not answer this letter either.

Any suggestions?

We are afraid this is going to drag on for years at the rate it is going so far, and the Administrator is just to weak to push anything through because she is so naieve and intimidated by this attorney.

Thank you,

 

[cfeliss]

Administrator and Attorney evasive california

Thanks,

but the concern is not what is in the estate etc., there is a Bond in place.

The only concern is that the attorney and the Administrator are moving so slowly, and making alot of unnecessary mistakes. He is a Bankruptcy expert, not a Probate expert.

I have gotten copies of everything in the file to date.

What I am asking is, when we have an attorney and an Administrator that are both quite happy to do all the steps poorly and slowly, and cause all these delays that are not really necessary, what do the other 5 beneficiaries do?

All we want is to do whatever we can do to get this moving along quickly. It is such a simple estate, there is no reason for all these delays.

We ask the Administrator to get a committment from him, or a status report from him, to make him accountable, and she refuses to do that. I suspect that it is because she is at least half at fault for all the delays.

If I hire an attorney to send a letter to this attorney, will he be obligated to answer our questions. I dont want to waste money, just to have him not answer this letter either.

Any suggestions?

We are afraid this is going to drag on for years at the rate it is going so far, and the Administrator is just to weak to push anything through because she is so naieve and intimidated by this attorney.

Thank you

 

[cfeliss]

reply to Dandy Don - Evasive California

Thanks,

but the concern is not what is in the estate etc., there is a Bond in place.

The only concern is that the attorney and the Administrator are moving so slowly, and making alot of unnecessary mistakes. He is a Bankruptcy expert, not a Probate expert.

I have gotten copies of everything in the file to date.

What I am asking is, when we have an attorney and an Administrator that are both quite happy to do all the steps poorly and slowly, and cause all these delays that are not really necessary, what do the other 5 beneficiaries do?

All we want is to do whatever we can do to get this moving along quickly. It is such a simple estate, there is no reason for all these delays.

We ask the Administrator to get a committment from him, or a status report from him, to make him accountable, and she refuses to do that. I suspect that it is because she is at least half at fault for all the delays.

If I hire an attorney to send a letter to this attorney, will he be obligated to answer our questions. I dont want to waste money, just to have him not answer this letter either.

Any suggestions?

We are afraid this is going to drag on for years at the rate it is going so far, and the Administrator is just to weak to push anything through because she is so naieve and intimidated by this attorney.

Thank you