I have to speak with them directly to find out the answers to some of these questions. Please bear with me, as I can't emphasize enough that I'm coming into this with little information, and my main purpose was to find out (1) if it's too late to take action, should they discover anything significant, and (2) where on earth they might begin, if they were to reopen this can of worms.
I spoke with the deceased's grandson a few minutes ago, who also knows little of the situation (it's his mother and aunt that I need to speak with... one is in Turkey right now on a missions trip & the other, I've emailed for more info). He said there WAS a will, so I apologize for that misinformation. I heard wrong. The will split his estate/assets between the children, but did not list his portfolio or investments, or anything specific enough. So it was up to them to dig for his assets.
The grandson's take on things is this... his aunt (who, you'll see in my answers below was the one to deal with the estate) was utterly devastated by her father's death, and it's assumed and very possible that she just wanted it to be overwith and just didn't care enough at the time to pursue some kind of lengthy investigation. Why it was never revisited is beyond me, and is something I hope to get an answer to. He also said that his grandfather suffered some mental issues prior to his death. Like I said before, his death was VERY unexpected, and no one saw it coming. After the fact, however, stories began coming out that involved highly questionable & out-of-character decision making, forgetfulness, etc. So, the grandson is highly suspicious with regard to that, as well.
As for your questions below, these are to best of the grandson's knowledge, and I will likely be able to get greater detail once I hear from his aunt or mother.
Apparently, one of the daughters (who was a corporate liability lawyer in VA) was the one to interpret the will and she had about a week to go through the deceased's paperwork to discover whatever assets he had. There were actually *three* financial advisers that she dealt with, but one main one. So, it sounds to me like nowhere near the proper amount of time was spent on this, and like I said before, she just wanted it to be overwith.
How did they inherit it? Was probate opened and his estate administered? Had grandfather established a trust?
Referencing my mistake again (above), there was a will, it was just vague with regard to the actual estate. I have no idea, though, how receiving the inheritance actually took place though.
What does that mean? Basically? What did they try to look up? What dead ends did they hit?
I explained this one to the best of my knowledge above. One of the deceased's daughters (the lawyer) had something like a week to fly to Florida, dig through her father's apartment for whatever she could find regarding his investments, assets, accounts, etc. and spoke with her father's financial advisers. She was devastated at the time, and because she was very much financially secure, I suspect there wasn't much incentive to pursue this aggressively when she was in such a state of shock and so overwhelmed. Obviously, this is where I am lacking detail from her that would be very helpful. And honestly, the more questions I ask, the more I'm beginning to feel like *something* caused the daughter to never revisit this again after all these years. Something beyond her being torn up the week after his death, and wanting to get it overwith.
The other daughter feels the same way that we do... that there is NO conceivable possibility that what they ended up with was even remotely close to all there was. This man owned something like a half a dozen patents, 3 of which are now owned by Google. He developed technology that contributed to his success, using microwaves as a type of sonar to detect submerged submarines. He was the President of Airborne Instruments Lab. He met with the President of Egypt as a result of his work. He had a 1,700 acre farm in VA with an incredible 5 bedroom home (that he later sold). The list goes on and on and on. I'm the one trying to pursue this one way or another because they don't know where to begin and the thought hasn't really crossed their minds until now, and I feel like if I could just start them down a path, they would take it & run with it from there. The ONLY reason this is coming up is because the family was together recently, and began reminiscing about how everything went down when this man died. When I asked why this was never pursued again, she didn't even know what to say.... they said they wouldn't even know where to begin... and said something about God's will. The grandson and I, and one of the daughters wants answers now, though, IF they can be had. Which is why I am here, asking what the possibilities are.
Other than the children being disappointed, what makes them suspect that the financial adviser was stealing?
I'm not sure how to interpret this question. It implies that they're pegging the financial adviser solely because they were disappointed at the amount of the inheritance. If that were the intention, I have to believe they would've pursued this long ago. And if that is, in fact, the implication in your question, then I can assure you it is not at all accurate. They were given the runaround, and after discovering that the deceased was suffering mental issues prior to his death, they ruled out several other possibilities (people), and the one that they were never able to rule out was the financial adviser.
Obviously, there are more details to be had here, and I certainly want to obtain as much information as I can, and I KNOW that it can be frustrating when an uneducated person comes into one of these forums throwing out questions without thinking or knowing anything - I am not trying to be that person. At this stage, since I am lacking in certain details, I feel the only reasonable questions I can expect to be answerable are the original questions I asked.... (1) is it possible that it is too late to pursue and investigate this, and have anything come of it if discoveries ARE made, and (2) if so, being pointed in the right direction would be massively helpful. And, of course, if I've managed to somehow provide enough information to warrant any additional advice, it is more than welcome.
Thank you.
