What recourse do we have?

[TaraMc36]

My uncle "Lance" was appointed to be Executor to my grandmother's estate. She had $14K of insurance proceeds, and $11K in cash in her checking and savings. She also had a car, personal property and a house valued at $160K.

After 9 months of requesting information, with no response from Lance, my other uncles and my mother petitioned the courts for his removal as Executor--and won. A judge appointed a third-party Executor on 7/1.

Lance never has responded to any of the lawyers or judges asking him to reveal the financial records detailing the spent monies. What recourse do we have in this situation?

All of the cash plus the car is gone--and Lance has moved with no forwarding address. His children won't reveal his location or phone number. And we found out today that Lance never paid the property taxes due last May, nor any of the bills. The Executor needs funds to settle the Estate. None of other family members are stepping up to the plate with money.

Should my family contact the Police? Is fleeing the state having taken $25K considered theft and fraud? Are his actions criminal or just civil violations?

 

[mrdonsmith]

A court-appointed executor shouldn't be passing the hat to do his/her work. What he is legally owed would come out of the proceeds of the estate. I would inform the judge who appointed him/her that he/she seems to breaching his fiduciary duties by going after family members. As to the uncle, I believe criminal fraud has been committed here and that, yes, you ought to notify the police about the circumstances. The tight-lipped relatives might want to rethink hiding his whereabouts and avoid being named as co-conspirators by expediting your uncle's flight to avoid prosecution. If the police won't help you, contact your local district attorney's office.

 

[anteater]

Why isn't the third-party executor letting the bloodhounds loose on "Lance's" trail?

 

[Dandy Don]

For what legal reason was he replaced as executor?

Do you know whether he also had been given a signed power of attorney the grandmother before she died?

Is this third party executor also an attorney?

The current executor can contact the bank to get details about how the account was set up (exactly whose name was it in) to determine whether the man got the monies legally or illegally. If you know the name of the insurance company, the executor can also contact that company to find out if the policy named a beneficiary or not. Yes, executor does possibly face criminal charges IF the money he got was taken illegally (which you don't know yet).

Good news is that if the house is sold the heirs will be able to split the proceeds from that.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])