What are our rights???

What is the name of your state? CA

My Great Aunt passed away in February 2008. She has no children, so my Mom is her next living relative. My Grandmother and her would call each every weekend to check on the other. When my Grandmother didn't reach her by telephone on Sunday she left a message on her machine. She called the local police to check her home to see if she was OK. Her house was locked up and the police said she must just be out. My Grandmother insisted that they return to check on her. She then received from "Karen" who said my Aunt had passed away late Saturday night and left a couple of numbers with Gram. Gram then called me with the distrubing news. I asked who "Karen" was and what we needed to do for funeral arrangements?? She gave me the numbers and I called them. "Karen's" number first. A gentleman answered the phone and let me know they were friends of my Aunts. He said they were taking care of the cremation and that he had "Power of Attorney". I thought Power of Attorney ended when a person passed away??? He claimed to have worked for my late Great Uncle for 30+ years, but had no idea who my Grandmother was... Strange as my Grandmother was my Aunt's sister in law for over 65 years. He then said there was family photo albums that we could have. I was in shock and hung up the phone. The following day I had my husband call these people back to ask more questions. We know her property was in trust and she had a reverse mortgage against her property. They did give us her attorney name & city. We located the phone number and made a call to the attorney. Yes my Aunt was this attorney's client and we advised them of her death. We told the Secretary the oddness of this whole situtation of these people. We have no idea who they are. We were told they would pull the file and call us back. After calling everyday for over week the attorney has never called us back. I made it quite clear her family wants to know that everything that my Aunt wanted is taken care of. Whether her estate all goes to charity, her golf club, us, or even these people that none of us know. Do we or my Mom have a right to know what exactly was in her trust?? My Grandmother is soooo upset. What do we do since the attorney will not return our call...? Common courtesy would have been nice from the attorney to let her family know everything is taken care of including her cremation. What a shame that she was on this earth 85 years and within a day, like she didn't even exist to her family.
HELP PLEASEWhat is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?

Did your great aunt suffer from any disease or take any medication that would have affected her mental competency? These persons seem to have taken advantage of her, or if they didn't take advantage of her, your great aunt liked them/trusted them enough to handle her affairs since there was no family nearby.

If you were named as beneficiaries in the trust you would have the right to request a copy of it, but since that may not have happened here you probably have no rights to ask for a copy of it. First check at the county courthouse probate court to see if they have filed a will for probate to be opened up (normally that is done within 30-60 days after the death). If there is no filing, she may have had all assets put into the trust. If they have filed, you can order a copy of the will by mail.

Yes, the POA does expire when the death occurs, but it was good up until the time she died. You need to be talking to a probate attorney and a family law attorney to figure out if you have grounds to charge the POA with elderly financial abuse or not (normally he might have been required to provide some type of accounting to prove he spent the monies withdrawn on her care and not kept the funds for himself). You or your attorney can send a certified letter to the estate attorney to ask who the trustee is and to ask for a copy of the trust (just to see if they will respond and send you a copy) and send the same certified letter to the POA (if we assume he might be trustee), but first check the county courthouse land records to see if any homes or land owned by your great aunt might be title/listed in the name of the trust.

If no will is filed you may want to file to open up probate yourself so you can be in charge as personal representative or executor, and then ask court to ask these shady people to provide the will or trust.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])