To Contest Or Not

My dad passed away and he left me 200,000 in his will but he left my twin brother 5 million is there anything that i can do?? My brother wants to split it equally but the representative says it cant be done. My dad always said that when he died the business would be my brothers and mine and now it is left to only my brother. My dad and i did have our differences but I never dreamed he would do this too me. We were estranged for a few years but this last year we were speaking and I believe that he passed away from cancer so fast that he did not have time to change the will. Any help would be grateful I dont want to spend money that i dont have if there is no possiblity of changing the outcome

What is the name of your state? CALIFORNIA

Not having time to change the will is not grounds to contest it.

And the personal represetnative is an idiot.

Generally speaking, your brother can do whatever he wants to do with his property. He can give part or all of it to you, he can sell it, he can keep it, he can donate it to charity.

anteater,

You said, "And the personal represetnative is an idiot." Why do you say that? It wouldn't be prudent for the personal representative to violate the directives of the will, would it? I think the personal representative is correct. After distribution anything can be done with the proceeds, however. I am open to a better explanation.

doit4les said, "My brother wants to split it equally but the representative says it cant be done."

curb1 said:

anteater,

You said, "And the personal represetnative is an idiot." Why do you say that? It wouldn't be prudent for the personal representative to violate the directives of the will, would it? I think the personal representative is correct. After distribution anything can be done with the proceeds, however. I am open to a better explanation.

doit4les said, "My brother wants to split it equally but the representative says it cant be done."

Click to expand...

Ah, it was early and not enough coffee. And being grumpy, I was perhaps being too harsh. Let me re-phrase: The Personal representative is taking the path of least resistance.

You're correct. It would not be prudent for the PR to take that action on their own initiative. But the OP, brother and the PR should investigate a partial disclaimer. I know that CA allows for that, but do not the nitty-gritty details.

Is there any language in the will giving a specific reason or explanation why he was giving you a lesser amount? Father obviously may have liked him better so it would appear you have no valid legal grounds for contesting--it's his money to distribute any way he wishes.

You would be foolish to waste money on attorney fees trying to contest a will when you will be better off by not contesting. If brother is agreeing to split the money with you, then let the payouts remain what they are now and he should be consulting a CPA/tax accountant to figure out in advance what the tax liability is going to be and if there are any tax consequences for you to also be figured out. Taxes may take out a large portion of the bequest but you will still benefit financially.

Wow--wish I had a brother like yours!

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

Let me amend my advice by stating that it is probably better for both of you to consult with a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL ESTATE PLANNER to figure out how to best handle this transaction and he/she probably also knows the tax implications as well.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

still confused

A partial disclaimer can not be done because as i have heard that means they treat it as those the brother had died prior to the father and in the will it gives all the money to charity if that had happened. Am i wrong in how i read this??? There is no language in the will stating why it was done this way. We were just trying to save being taxed twice on the same money, i guess we are out of luck on this. We just wanted to have it all out into a trust with both named equally on the trust. thank you for all your help. would it help if a prior will showed both as heirs to the estate???

What do you mean, taxed twice?

Please talk to a professional so you can get your confusion cleared up. There is a $2 million exemption on estate taxes, so the first portion of that will be tax free as far as federal taxes are concerned.

If a trust was not created, there is nothing that can be done now after the death has occurred.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

family settlement agreement

does anyone have any information on a family settlement agreement. I have heard that MY brother and I can make a agreement and submit it to the probate court in agreement to split the money equally. Or filing a injuction not to contest and signing an agreement to settle any ideas on this. Thus avoiding any gift tax in the future.
I was going to contest on the basis on undue influence my brother.

Give it a try. What do you have to lose?

An estate this size, there must be an attorney involved(?). Talk it over with the attorney. Or retain your own.

You are contemplating contesting your father's Will by claiming that your brother exerted undue influence over him even while your brother is trying to split the Estate with you? This is a bit baffling.

Your brother should consult with an attorney and so should you, in order for each of you to get advice on how best to achieve your mutual goal of sharing the proceeds from the Estate.

Filing a lawsuit solely so you can reach a settlement and distribute the Estate in a manner contrary to the provisions of the Will seems very strange to me. But maybe y'all are just thinking outside the box and I am sitting in the box thinking hey, this is a nice, legal box.

You are making this much more difficult than it needs to be. There truly is no need to contest if he is telling the truth about wanting to split it with you. If you charged him with undue influence with no legal grounds he is going to be less likely to split the money with you.

Get your attorney to draw up a promissory note in which your brother agrees to split the inheritance with you and have him sign it. If he or you can not arrive on an exact dollar figure that he is going to pay you, that is why one or both of you needs to consult first with a certified estate planner to find out how much in taxes is going to be paid so you can come up with a net amount after taxes that he can give you.

But you first need to consult with a local probate attorney to find out if the partial disclaimer would work to your advantage or in wanting to achieve what you are trying to do or not.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

We have found an attorney that is familiar with family settlement agreements. He said that we draw up the agreement and file it with the probate coourt and when accepted they take it as split equally then it is taxed differently. Be it one person taxed on 5 million or 2 persons taxed on 2 1/2 million each. There was never any chance of my brother not splitting the money with me , it was just the taxes that we were worrying about. Hopefully Now we can avoid any gift taxes. Why pay the goverment all that money in taxes when it is not necessary. He does agree that throughout the years he did keep the feud between my dad and myself alive by bringing it up in conversation all throughout his visits and calls, he said it was not done out of spite it was just done as he always wanted to be the one that was always in good graces and sees how wrong it made things turn out. He never believed it would cause our father to do things this way. I t may be a bit baffling to all of you but you would have to understand the sitiation a bit more closely. There are no hard feelings harbored between us it was just the way brother has always been through out his life and his relationship with our father was always on a need basis. He always was the one that needed something and I never was one to ask for anything , and my dad liked to be the one dependant upon to give. Yes we are just as crazy as any other families out there. Thank you for all the help and advice you guys have given.

I'm glad you found an attorney. I hope he is a good one. Finessing this is going to be a more subtle and complex thing than the other posters are implying. This internet forum is not a proper place to decide the course on over $5 million.