Wills and social security/VA

What is the name of your state?Scenario: parents are divorced with 2 children under 18, share 50/50 custody, one parent dies, grandparent of children is executor of will. Can a person put in their will that they want the survivor's benefits for social security and VA administered by the grandparent rather than the surviving parent of the children? If the estate has been disposed of already and there is nothing on file at the county, what does this mean? This is for Minnesota.

What month and year did the death occur?

It is possible that there might not have been enough assets for a probate to be necessary.

You would need to check with the Social Security Office in your area to get your question about the survivor's benefits answered.

If you think there may have been fairly substantial assets in this estate, then you need to consider filing to be administrator of this estate yourself (or hiring an attorney to do it) and then asking the court to order the grandparent to produce the will.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

Death just occurred in May. There was more than $20K in assets. The reason I'm asking is because the grandparent is also executor of the estate. There was a $20K automobile left to one of the children and the grandparent sold it for $10K and put $6K into a "trust" for the child. I did contact both SSA and VA and they did tell me that whoever has legal guardianship of the children needs to file for the survivor's benefits but the grandparent is acting REALLY confident and has said that as executor of the estate she has legal grounds for getting this money herself and will provide an "allowance" for the children. I am questioning whether there is really even a will or if it was simply a letter spelling out her wishes and leaving power of attorney.

Whose name would the title of the automobile have been left in? Check at the department of motor vehicles to see if you can get more details about what happened with the sale of the vehicle. It looks like grandparent is acting as executor without having gone through the formal process of and correct process of first filing to be executor at the courthouse and then receiving letters testamentary that would authorize executor to claim any and all assets and sell property. Executor does have authority to sell property if the will directs him/her to do so, but the problem here is that you don't know exactly what the will says about the car and it does look as if executor has erred in selling the car if that is not what the will instructs. It looks like she is deliberately withholding the will for unknown reasons or just to keep you all in the dark.

Questioning whether there is a will? Have you checked at the county courthouse probate court to see if it has been filed yet? If it hasn't been, then you need to file to be administrator of this estate and then ask the court to force grandparent to produce the will IF she has it.

You need to send the grandparent a certified letter asking if there is a will and if there is a trust and does either the will or the trust name you or your child as a beneficiary. If so, then you also need to request a copy of the will and the trust, which is your right as a beneficiary or if your child is the beneficiary.

A letter spelling out her wishes may not necessarily be accepted in court as a legal, valid will and the power of attorney expired at the same time the death occurred. You may want to be consulting with a local probate attorney to help you figure out what your options or course of action should be to protect your interests or your child's interests.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

Thanks Dandy Don for your advice. I kind of suspected some of this but in a time of grief people don't necessarily think clearly.