Multiple executors

[Kaiser ActobogG]

What is the name of your state? California

My mother passed away about twenty years ago. Her will directed all of her holdings be liquidated and distributed amongst her heirs (a son, a grand daughter, and a few nieces). She name two brothers and her son (me) as executors, first one brother, then another if the first was disinclined or deceased, then me in that order.

Her personal possessions disappeared almost entirely before I reached her residence, and her safe deposit box was opened (no life insurance policy was ever found) and the contents put somewhere. Her personal possessions were valued at $200 in the inventory, even though she had some priceless antiques.

Years went by, with little contact between her attorney and the executor (the first named brother) and myself. After the probate was finally settled, I got a copy of the court filing and found many difficult areas, one being the insertion of a legal clause between the numbered lines of the legal paper (it was even in different type than the rest of the filing), done presumeably after its filing. I tried to make a claim against her probate attorney first to the state bar, and then to the state Supreme Court, but both were unsuccessful.

When I would try to question the executor about the trouble with her probate I was told that it was none of my business, as I was just an heir. I know this to be a false statement, as I was named as an alternate executor, an executor even if I was third on the list (the second brother had died in the mean time). It was my function to see that the actual executor handled the probate as it should be handled, right?

Why was my complaint to the state bar and the court unsuccessful? My mother's possessions weren't inventoried or distributed properly, that was easy to prove. The alteration of the legal document was very easy to prove, as it was in the court records. The grand daughter's inheritance was handled very badly, and she suffered great emotional and financial harm. It was difficult to find an attorney in the county my mother lived in to sue her attorney that hadn't done business or knew personally one or more members of my mother's probate lawyer's firm, as she lived in a reasonably small county. Criminal law is one thing, usually someone is lying there, but isn't probate supposed to be different?

A lot more happened than the above, but this is the main problem, as I see it.

 

[ALawyer]

As an alternate executor you are just a bystander until and unless called to act. You were not, so that's that.

As an heir you were entitled to notice of events and had a right to object on a timely basis. 20 years is NOT timely.

The State Bar's failure to act does not mean that you were wrong or the other side it right. But face it man, after 20 years it is ancient history!

 

[Kaiser ActobogG]

As an alternate executor you are just a bystander until and unless called to act. You were not, so that's that.

As an heir you were entitled to notice of events and had a right to object on a timely basis. 20 years is NOT timely.

The State Bar's failure to act does not mean that you were wrong or the other side it right. But face it man, after 20 years it is ancient history!

Twenty years is a long time, right, but the money that I still get from her estate is handled just as badly now as it was then. At least one of her investments went bankrupt during probate, and the insurance company that handled my inheritance went bankrupt immediately after receiving the money. The insurance company was salvaged after the state was done restructuring it, and my account was supposedly guaranteed (the legal term, I guess), but there is still difficulty with the money. My child has had difficulty with her inheritance, also.

I first tried to voice my concern over a decade ago. It was relatively timely then.

Who would have called me to replace the executor? Not my mother's attorney, obviously. I don't think the court would have, either, as it made no mention of the altered filing. No one else seemed concerned about it. I'm an only child, so maybe my level of concern isn't equalled by anyone else.

I know timeliness is important in legal proceedings. I also know that timeliness begins at the time of the incident complained of. I believe that the continued mishandling of my inheritance (not going into my daughter's situation, right now) keeps the timeliness issue fresh. I'm sure the bar would disagree with me due to the way my complaints were handled there. But I have had my mother's intent as written in her will misapplied time and time again for well over a decade. I tried to handle this without an attorney by going pro per, and this seemed to damage the situation even more. I don't want to do any more pro per filings (they seem to get laughed at a lot), but I do think I have a valid complaint.