Will/Trust Beneficiary of Gifts

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? GA
I live in NH and my stepfather passed away May 2003 (last year) he lived in GA. The WILL went through probate in April 2004 naming executors, etc. There is an attorney in GA taking care of the Trust and Will. My step-dad left my sister and I gifts from his will. We are not part and/or named in the trust. One of the gifts is an investment account. Shortly after my step-dads death (May 2003) one of the executors (which is the survivor beneficiary of this investment account) started to withdraw funds from the account we were gifted to pay expenses for the trust (real estate taxes, etc. on rental property which is part of the trust). Learning of this news, I contacted my step-dads estate attorney and he contacted the executor stating they must put the money spent back into the account up to the value on the day my step-dad passed away. Since this is an investment account and assuming it is earning value are we entitled to any interest earned since my stepfathers death? And does this executor have the right to withdraw monies from this account without prior knowledge and/or consent of my sister and I? As well, do we have a legal right to get statements on the accounts gifted to us? If so, does anyone know the legal process for obtaining these? Also does the executor managing this account gifted to us have the right to close this account without our consent? Can someone legally close an account that has been willed to someone else? Unfortunately, this apparently has been done. FYI, I have contacted all the executors (4) of this estate requesting statements and balances, etc on the accounts that have been gifted to us since the time of my stepfather’s death and no one is responding with this information. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately for you, the executor as survivor beneficiary has the right to this money and it does not even need to pass through probate. Your step-father may have made an unintentional error that he may not have been aware of--giving it to someone else in the will is null and void--the will can not overide the designated beneficiary. If he really wanted you all to have that money he should have sent your names in on a new beneficiary designation form, but he probably did not know this.

It would have been kind of the executors/trustee to tell you about this instead of ignoring your inquiries, but they probably did not want to disappoint you.

Have you received any other gifts from the will?

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

Additional Information

I appreciate the response. Furthermore, I recieved two calls from the executor and estate attorney since I started this thread. The money is being released to us regardless on the beneficiary information. However, until I see the money in hand then I'm not holding my breath about that account. There is also a cash settlement and I believe this will be paid out by the estate and the estate is not settled until properties are sold. The estate attorney states that this is not necessary. The money should be paid out to my sis and I since we are not part of the trust and this too has been requested by the attorney for the executors to issue us our gifts. The estate attorney said there is a legal responsibility of the executors to issue the funds to us and they have a reasonable time period to respond. Does anyone know what that reasonable time period would be. The attorney states 7-10 business days and its been 7 so far. And if they do not respond to the request, what legal rights does a person have to take action against the executors? Can I just submit a special form to the state of GA court stating that the executors are not doing their jobs????

THKS AGAIN!