unclear intentions

Background:

On his deathbed, my grandfather gave my cousin power of attorney for purposes of caring for my grandmother. Both grandparents now dead. After grandfather passed, cousin stated that he had a will left by our grandfather which states that upon their deaths, all property to be divided equally between their 3 children. According to the will, I'm an heir by virtue of my mother's death. Nobody has seen this WILL except my cousin who, as stated, has power of attorney.

COMPLICATING ISSUES:

Grandparents lived last 10 years solely on Social Security and a low interest line of credit/checking acct based on the value of their home (no mortgage. owned home outright). A Visa credit card was also connected to this overall line of credit and is STILL being used by my cousin and his Mother.

QUESTION #1

What is stopping my cousin from now saying there IS NO Will. This would mean that the entire estate would go to my Aunt since she is the next of kin.

QUESTION #2

How can I stop the bleeding from the use of the credit card? The bank is still unaware of my grandmother's recent death. How do we get a copy of the death Certificate so the bank can be advised properly?

If there were sufficient assets to make what will become a family feud worthwhile, then this is an issue, if not, forget about it.

The power of attorney expired on the death.

You could seek to act as Admininstrator as if there was no Will.

If there were no Will, then the estate is divided up according to the laws of intestate distribution of the state. You'd share your mother's share (along with your siblings).

And the person holding the Will would probably suddenly produce it.....

Report the death to the bank -- the people using it would have to repay their unauthorized withdrawls.

FEB 7, 2001


DEAR TCD:

You forgot to mention what state the deaths occurred in, but you really should speak to a local probate attorney in order to protect your interests. An initial consultation would be free or could range from $20 up, but it would certainly be worth it to find out what next steps to take.

You need to find out if there is a requirement in your county for a will to be filed within 30 days or so after a person has died. You need to ask your cousin politely to have a copy of the will distributed to each beneficiary (for informational/disclosure purposes only), and also to check with the county courthouse to see if it has been filed yet. You also need to ask him who is the executor!! He may not be aware of the fact that his power of attorney is expired, and you would need to know if he is the executor (is he keeping this secret in order to stall and gain more time to misappropriate assets?).

The fact that he is still using the overall line of credit does not look good as far his honesty, but I don't want to make accusations without knowing all of the facts.

All you can do right now is wait for someone to file the will and for the few months of processing time it will take to pay expenses and debts, etc. before the final distribution is made, but if the executor is a reasonable and honest person who is not trying to hide anything, they should be at least willing to communicate with beneficiaries to let them know what is going on.

As far as getting a copy of the death certificate, some states have restricted access so that only immediate family members can order it, and other states have an open policy where anyone can order it. Go to vitalchek.com to click on the particular state where the death occurred, or you can visit that state's vital statistics website through a websearch to find out the requirements for ordering the death certificate (send me an e-mail if you want me to locate a particular state's website for you).

SINCERELY,

[email protected]