Gift excluded from distribution of estate?

[carlskr]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Minnesota.

Hello, my girfriend's father died earlier this year. One of her older sisters is personal representative for the estate. A situation has come up that is driving the siblings apart, and my GF is trying to decide what to do next. At one moment, she wants to fight for what she thinks is fair, and the next she feels like she should just give in in the name of family harmony. Maybe there is another alternative - if she knew she was on solid ground legally, perhaps the PR would change course and they could avoid an all-out battle.

The PR found a $5000 check to my GF, from the father, from several years ago. The memo line of the check says "Early Inheritance Gift". From this, the PR has concluded that the amount of that check needs to be deducted from GF's share of the estate.

The history of the family was that the father helped the children out with monetary gifts on numerous occasions when they had a need. Some were as much as $30,000, some much less. What my GF doesn't understand is why the PR thinks the $5000 needs to be "paid back" to the estate when their father gave gifts to all of them on different occasions. (Leading her to feel like her sister was implying that she was somehow less worthy, or less loved by the father.)

The will doesn't have any specific information about money to be paid back by any of the children. It simply states that the estate should be divided equally between the six children.

Most of these monetary gifts to the children were given before the father completed his will, but the $5000 check to my GF, as well as at least one round of checks to the rest of the children, came after the will was completed and signed. There was no amendment to the will after that.

My first question is, of course, whether that memo on the check really means it's NOT a gift and that it needs to be "paid back" to the estate.

Second, without getting into a ton of attorney's fees, what can she do to get copies of all the financial information that the PR has so she can see what was actually going on with all the different gifts to all the siblings?
Is there some court motion to force a complete accounting of what the PR has found for financial information? (And what money the PR has already paid out of the estate for expenses?)

If she needs an attorney, is a probate attorney the right title to look for?
Will most of them give a free initial consultation?

Thank you!!

[anteater]

If she needs an attorney, is a probate attorney the right title to look for?

Yes, she needs to find an attorney experienced in probate.

Will most of them give a free initial consultation?

Impossible to say. She will need to ask.