R
rccooper
Guest
incompetence and probate
I live in Texas and here is a short history of the problem.
My uncle whom had been named the executor of the will informed me on the way home from the funeral that he would make sure that I received my fair share of the estate. It slightly stunned me first of all that he was concerned about the will so soon after his mothers death and secondly that I was entitled to any of estate. Apparently years earlier when my grandfather was dieing of cancer had a mirror image will drawn up that stated my grandmother would become the trustee at the time of his death.
The trustee shall have all of the powers authorized by said Act and shall have the power to sell, mortgage, exchange, and to invest and reinvest the corpus of the trust. During the lifetime of the survivor of us, such survivor shall not be entitled to the corpus but shall be entitled to all of the income, rents and revenues from the trust property and the same shall be distributed to such survivor as it accrues, but such survivor, as trustee, and the estate ‘of the survivor of us shall be liable to the remainder beneficiaries for the corpus of the trust estate and the proceeds of any corpus that may be disposed of by the trustee.
Upon the death of the survivor of us the trust property and all of the property owned by such survivor shall pass to and become the property of our children in equal shares.
After over a year of my uncle changing his stories and being caught in several lies I hired an attorney. The attorney after more than six months had still taken no action. I pressured him to get the ball rolling and he filed papers that I thought were to have the will probated. However he informed me weeks later the papers were incorrect and that they had to be re-filed. It was a couple of months more when he informed me that we had a meeting scheduled with my uncle’s attorney. At this meeting I learned that my attorney had miss filed the papers again by leaving out two of my brothers. My uncle's attorney became very aggressive at this meeting raising his voice, shaking his finger in my face an telling me how I was a horrible person for suing my dead grandmother for miss handling the estate, and that my uncle was fishing buddies with the judge and he would never rule against my uncle. I did not even know my attorney was suing my grandmother. I thought it was my uncle that had miss handled the estate. During the meeting my attorney said nothing he simple sat there and watched. After the meeting my attorney said he needed to go over to the court house with my uncles attorney and sign some papers and that we should go home. I still do not know what papers he signed. After several more months of no action from my attorney I asked him to remove himself. I planned to attempt to handle the matter myself. Since that time I have learned that my grandmother had at least three different bank accounts. One checking account that had been closed out by my uncle. She also had two CDs worth $75.000 in a bank where my uncle’s sister worked. She is also named in the will. The CDs listed my uncle and his sister as sole survivorship. I had the banks subpoenaed and they all responded with the info requested except the bank with the CDs. They had an attorney contact me. He informed me that the subpoena was not legal because my husband served it and even if it were it would cost thousand in attorney and research fees. At this point I became overwhelmed.
Last week I called the court clerk to see if any action had been taken by my uncle and was informed that a summery judgment had been awarded. Apparently my attorney never removed himself. The court served him papers in October of 2001 stating that there would be a hearing in December of 2001. The attorney never informed me so I was not at the hearing. Apparently because of this the judge awarded my uncle and his sister everything and I now owe my uncle over $2.000 in attorney fees.
I also have tape recordings of my uncle admitting how he is basically manipulating the court.
I know the court system in not perfect but this is unbelievable. There must be something that can be done.
Any help or advice would be appreciated
I live in Texas and here is a short history of the problem.
My uncle whom had been named the executor of the will informed me on the way home from the funeral that he would make sure that I received my fair share of the estate. It slightly stunned me first of all that he was concerned about the will so soon after his mothers death and secondly that I was entitled to any of estate. Apparently years earlier when my grandfather was dieing of cancer had a mirror image will drawn up that stated my grandmother would become the trustee at the time of his death.
The trustee shall have all of the powers authorized by said Act and shall have the power to sell, mortgage, exchange, and to invest and reinvest the corpus of the trust. During the lifetime of the survivor of us, such survivor shall not be entitled to the corpus but shall be entitled to all of the income, rents and revenues from the trust property and the same shall be distributed to such survivor as it accrues, but such survivor, as trustee, and the estate ‘of the survivor of us shall be liable to the remainder beneficiaries for the corpus of the trust estate and the proceeds of any corpus that may be disposed of by the trustee.
Upon the death of the survivor of us the trust property and all of the property owned by such survivor shall pass to and become the property of our children in equal shares.
After over a year of my uncle changing his stories and being caught in several lies I hired an attorney. The attorney after more than six months had still taken no action. I pressured him to get the ball rolling and he filed papers that I thought were to have the will probated. However he informed me weeks later the papers were incorrect and that they had to be re-filed. It was a couple of months more when he informed me that we had a meeting scheduled with my uncle’s attorney. At this meeting I learned that my attorney had miss filed the papers again by leaving out two of my brothers. My uncle's attorney became very aggressive at this meeting raising his voice, shaking his finger in my face an telling me how I was a horrible person for suing my dead grandmother for miss handling the estate, and that my uncle was fishing buddies with the judge and he would never rule against my uncle. I did not even know my attorney was suing my grandmother. I thought it was my uncle that had miss handled the estate. During the meeting my attorney said nothing he simple sat there and watched. After the meeting my attorney said he needed to go over to the court house with my uncles attorney and sign some papers and that we should go home. I still do not know what papers he signed. After several more months of no action from my attorney I asked him to remove himself. I planned to attempt to handle the matter myself. Since that time I have learned that my grandmother had at least three different bank accounts. One checking account that had been closed out by my uncle. She also had two CDs worth $75.000 in a bank where my uncle’s sister worked. She is also named in the will. The CDs listed my uncle and his sister as sole survivorship. I had the banks subpoenaed and they all responded with the info requested except the bank with the CDs. They had an attorney contact me. He informed me that the subpoena was not legal because my husband served it and even if it were it would cost thousand in attorney and research fees. At this point I became overwhelmed.
Last week I called the court clerk to see if any action had been taken by my uncle and was informed that a summery judgment had been awarded. Apparently my attorney never removed himself. The court served him papers in October of 2001 stating that there would be a hearing in December of 2001. The attorney never informed me so I was not at the hearing. Apparently because of this the judge awarded my uncle and his sister everything and I now owe my uncle over $2.000 in attorney fees.
I also have tape recordings of my uncle admitting how he is basically manipulating the court.
I know the court system in not perfect but this is unbelievable. There must be something that can be done.
Any help or advice would be appreciated
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