Do I need a lawyer?

My father, who lived in California, recently passed away, and he left his entire estate to me and my two siblings. My siblings, one in California and one in Texas, have borrowed over $100K in the last several years. Neither of them have payed taxes of any kind on this money. Although my father perceived these transactions as loans, they believe that they were somehow entitled to this money and told me that he would not be payed back.

I, in turn, asked for nothing and received nothing because I felt that what they were doing was wrong. He fortunately had enough money left to pay for his own assisted living care,in spite of their constant draning of his bank account.

Can I be held liable for any taxes owed to his estate? Do they have to pay that money back? No one had Power of Attorney over his finances. I don't want to contest the will, but I believe they should be responsible for this financial abuse. By the way, my sister just took a full year off of work largely at my Fathers' expense.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

That year of work your sister took off, was it to care for him, or at his request? If so, that's no vacation. Was she paid for it? Should she have been? Did you pitch in equally?

As for the loan, was it documented (and if there was a loan there may be no taxes due) -- if it was a gift a gift tax return may have had to have been filed, even though no tax may be payable. How do you know it was a loan? Was any note signed? Did he leave a Will? Did it say anything about loans being forgiven? If it was a loan, and not forgiven, then they should repay his estate, or have it credited against their share.

Also, if one sibling did far more, understand that some recompense probably is in order..



[Edited by ALawyer on 02-05-2001 at 05:33 PM]

FEB. 6, 2001


DEAR KAY T:

The main concern here is:

IS there any paperwork/documentation in writing that would confirm that the amounts these siblings received were specifically called "LOANS" that were to be repaid at a certain date, or was the understanding only verbal?

If there was no specific agreement in writing, then the siblings don't have to pay it back and you have almost no recourse to recover these monies, unfair as it may seem.

If he wrote these loans in the form of a check, then you may want to get a copy of the canceled checks from the bank to see if the notation "loan" appears in the lower left corner, in which case you might be able to ask for repayment from the siblings.

The person who was named executor of the estate is responsible for having the taxes paid from the assets of the estate. Are you the executor or is it someone else? Normally, there should be enough assets in the estate to cover the tax expense. You would not PERSONALLY be liable for that amount.

SINCERELY,

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