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Probate $1 Mill problem.

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agorsi

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Calfornia.


So Im gonna try to keep this simple. My father passed away on 2-09-11. He had about a million dollars of assets (prime land, parcel, cashiers checks, business) left which he kept in the names of his two brothers & 1 aunt so he would not have to pay $400 a month child support.

They gave a $30,000 piece of land upon my initial demand and are refusing to pay another nickle.

I have proof(checks, deeds of trust), my uncles & aunt receiving amounts exceeding $200,000 within months of his death deposited to their accounts. The man who wrote the checks is willing to testify that he wrote those check for my father, and thus they are hiding that money from probate?

I am just so confused, we have assets, a paper trail, just nothing under his own name, once again to avoid the $400 a month child support. He left a will leaving us( me and my three sisters) everything, yet nothing is in his name,.... how do we retreive assests and show/ prove to the court or file motions to prove to the court that these were indeed my fathers hard earned assets, property and cash which he only hid because he was a stubborn man who refused to support his ex wife with a single penny to support his children.

what kind of attorney do i need? probate/civil? someone please help.

its honestly a little confusing, but so simple in the same exact sense, he was hiding assets because he did not want to give the ex a single penny, but in no way would he want us, his children to not have any of his hard earned estate.

It sickening what my uncles are doing but unfortunately for them, i have a deep paper trail not to forget the boss my fathers partner who was writing my dad big checks to other peoples names because simply my father asked him to.
 


nextwife

Senior Member
Assets in someone elses name belong to the named owner. Once it was no longer titled to dad it ceased being his.
 

tranquility

Senior Member
The type of attorney will be an estate attorney. What he can do, I have no idea. We can't really go with a constructive trust theory as trusts are not allowed to have an improper purpose.

The attorney won't really know what to do off-hand either. It will take some research. Be prepared to pony up a lot of money to the attorney to have a chance. There will be a lot of litigation on this one and the outcome is uncertain. However, they have the money to spend on litigation AND have possession of the cash and items, so, without any of the actual facts, I'd bet on them.
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
If you can get the court to recognize those things as his, keep in mind that there is likely a significant CS debt owed to your mom that will have to get paid first.
 

tranquility

Senior Member
The actual place I'd start looking at is the tax concept of gifts in contemplation of death. They are included in the estate of the deceased. Not "included" in that they are there, but included as a number added to the estate amounts. There is not a disgorgement unless there is money needed to pay taxes. But, the court cases describing the concept may give some theories on how to unwind this fully-wound situation.
 

agorsi

Junior Member
If you can get the court to recognize those things as his, keep in mind that there is likely a significant CS debt owed to your mom that will have to get paid first.
the child support total is no more than $50,000. I had an attorney ready to take it on pro bono but later backed out wanting cash up front.
 

tranquility

Senior Member
No attorney will take a contest like this pro bono unless there is an underlying charity involved with the estate. I suspect that only a very hungry attorney will take it on contingency either. This is going to be a cash up front situation to even look at the likelihood of a valid legal theory to disgorge the money back to the estate.
 

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