What is the name of your state? NY
My father passed away in December '04. My brother and I are both co-administrators and have retained a very hard to deal with attorney - to put it nicely. I received in the mail the other day from his office a Notice of claim against estate of decedent papers that were filed with the surrogates court. The attorney is claiming that this claim isn't against the estate by a lien on my father's real property. The claim is for a credit card debt that we have been battling. Yes, the debt is legit and I have spokent to the firm handling the account but the attorney was somehow making settlement arrangements without our consent even before we signed the retainer agreement. I've told the firm (handling cc) that the debt will be satisfied when all debts are satisfied so we are not denying it's a valid debt. We do have money in the estate account. A family friend was nice enough to give us the life insurance money that was left to her to the estate and my father had stocks. Yes, there's money but that's not the point. I didn't pay this debt because at the time when the attorney made said arrangements we didn't have any money and weren't sure when we would. The closing of the property is supposedily taking place this month. The attorney states that we need to satisfy this debt before closing...how do I find out the truth? Can I call the surrogates court to see if this claim is really a lien. I don't trust this attorney (had to fight with brother about signing the retainer)...please help.
My father passed away in December '04. My brother and I are both co-administrators and have retained a very hard to deal with attorney - to put it nicely. I received in the mail the other day from his office a Notice of claim against estate of decedent papers that were filed with the surrogates court. The attorney is claiming that this claim isn't against the estate by a lien on my father's real property. The claim is for a credit card debt that we have been battling. Yes, the debt is legit and I have spokent to the firm handling the account but the attorney was somehow making settlement arrangements without our consent even before we signed the retainer agreement. I've told the firm (handling cc) that the debt will be satisfied when all debts are satisfied so we are not denying it's a valid debt. We do have money in the estate account. A family friend was nice enough to give us the life insurance money that was left to her to the estate and my father had stocks. Yes, there's money but that's not the point. I didn't pay this debt because at the time when the attorney made said arrangements we didn't have any money and weren't sure when we would. The closing of the property is supposedily taking place this month. The attorney states that we need to satisfy this debt before closing...how do I find out the truth? Can I call the surrogates court to see if this claim is really a lien. I don't trust this attorney (had to fight with brother about signing the retainer)...please help.
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