Rights of beneficiaries during probate

What is the name of your state? New Mexico
My brother has been named executor of my mother's will. He gave a large sum of cash from her assets to my sister who has a bad history for financial responsibility. My sister has also been loaning out my mom's car to friends. She is the only one who lives in the town where my mom resided. I am asking my brother to monitor the use of cash from both cash reserves and the bank account that my sister has access to. I also requested that they not loan out the car until probate is finished and we can sell it. There are 5 siblings involved in the estate. My brother stated that if I did not "butt out" he would cut me out of the disbursement. What rights do beneficiaries have in guarding assets until the probate is done?

Q: What rights do beneficiaries have in guarding assets until the probate is done?

A: YOU can hire YOUR lawyer to have the executor do his duty. It's called an accounting.

Rights of beneficiaries

Can I file a complaint with the lawyer who is handling the probate?

You would be better off to leave this alone until you get more evidence about the source of the funds involved--wait until you see an accounting. How do you know that he hasn't given her monies that she was legally entitled to (perhaps she had been named as a beneficiary to life insurance or pension benefits) that were payable outside of the estate? How does sister have access to the bank account? Mother could have added her name to the account as co-owner or beneficiary, and then she would be legally entitled to those funds under the concept of right of survivorship.

You can bring it up to the executor of the estate after some probate court hearings have been held, but you do realize that he may be biased towards your brother since your brother may be the one who hired him, and of course he is going to tell your brother that you complained.

Thanks so much for clarifying the issue. My sister is on the bank account which was opened to pay for maintaining the house while we are awaiting settlement. Since she lives in the town and receives the bills for the house, she is given authority to write checks to take care of bills. The cash in question was found in my mother's personal belongings when we began cleaning out the house. It was also to be used to pay for yardwork, etc. that needed to be done in the interim. She is not entitled to use it for any personal use but that was only agreed to verbally by all the siblings. Should I be concerned that the lawyer hired to do the probate (she) knows that I have a complaint? Shouldn't she be representing all of the beneficiaries in this process and not just my brother?

Just to be clear, the lawyer represents the Estate and the executor, not any beneficiary.

Wow! That is good to know. So, if I want to protect my interest, I need to get my own lawyer. That should make for some interesting family dynamics. Does every beneficiary need their own separate lawyer or can we share one?

Deb Elrod said:

Wow! That is good to know. So, if I want to protect my interest, I need to get my own lawyer. That should make for some interesting family dynamics. Does every beneficiary need their own separate lawyer or can we share one?

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seniorjudge said:

Q: What rights do beneficiaries have in guarding assets until the probate is done?

A: YOU can hire YOUR lawyer to have the executor do his duty. It's called an accounting.

Click to expand...

But, I repeat myself.