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Removing Executor

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joaw

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey

My brother and I are co executors of my mother's estate. She has passed more than three years ago. My brother will not cooperate on any level. We are 31 months into fines, penalties and interest with the State of New Jersey for Estate Taxes because he refuses to sign unless I pay more of every issue. We have a Mediation Agreement that states we are both responsible for 50 percent each of all money owed. Because he keeps making demands the accountant has just raised his rate an additional $1,000 ($500 each) the fee is now $4,500 and he will not complete the taxes until he is paid. It took a court appearance and over a year to get my brother to pay his original half of the accountant fee. If he refuses to pay this fee, sign the tax forms and pay his fair share of taxes owed - the fines, interest and penalties could go on for years to come. I am also concerned because he is presently awaiting trial for Federal Indictments - do I really want to sign a tax return with him? Does anyone know if I have any recourse here? Any information would be deeply appreciated.
 


Dandy Don

Senior Member
What is the value of this estate?

Was the mediation agreement something ordered/suggested by the court or by your brother?

There is no way that you and your brother should be agreeing to pay estate taxes (that is the job of the executor if the estate has enough money in it) personally. Did you receive payouts in which the estate taxes had not already been deducted?

Any local probate attorney can tell you the legal grounds for removal as executor, but it may be costly in legal fees.
 

joaw

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey

My brother and I are co executors of my mother's estate. She has passed more than three years ago. My brother will not cooperate on any level. We are 31 months into fines, penalties and interest with the State of New Jersey for Estate Taxes because he refuses to sign unless I pay more of every issue. We have a Mediation Agreement that states we are both responsible for 50 percent each of all money owed. Because he keeps making demands the accountant has just raised his rate an additional $1,000 ($500 each) the fee is now $4,500 and he will not complete the taxes until he is paid. It took a court appearance and over a year to get my brother to pay his original half of the accountant fee. If he refuses to pay this fee, sign the tax forms and pay his fair share of taxes owed - the fines, interest and penalties could go on for years to come. I am also concerned because he is presently awaiting trial for Federal Indictments - do I really want to sign a tax return with him? Does anyone know if I have any recourse here? Any information would be deeply appreciated.
-This is an addition to Original Post REMOVE EXECUTOR---- I had an attorney - it cost me over $10,000 and I am still in the same position. The Mediation was court appointed and we both agreed to it and signed it well over a year ago. My brother has not missed any opportunity to ignore the agreement. In May of this year we wnt back to court and the judge upheld that my brother had to pay his half of the accountant fee. By the way - I was never notified about this hearing in May - I only found out about it the day before by chance. My brother ansd his attorney never notified me even though they had the means to. The Judge was not pleased. The Judge kindly allowed me to appear Pro Se. At that hearing the Judge upheld the Mediation Agreement and my brother still insists on ignoring it. Question: aren't the executors (my brother & I) supposed to pay the taxes due on all of the estate REGARDLESS of who the money may have gone to - meaning, numerous beneficiaries? I really do not want to get a lawyer again if I don't have to - it was extremely expensive - I got little in the way of results - and I'd rather put the money toward the taxes due. Are there any suggestions?
 

anteater

Senior Member
Question: aren't the executors (my brother & I) supposed to pay the taxes due on all of the estate REGARDLESS of who the money may have gone to - meaning, numerous beneficiaries?
This gets more confusing as you go on. You make it sound as if you and your brother have to pay this from personal funds. Is that what you intend to say? And you are speaking about money having gone to beneficiaries before the estate has been closed? Is that what you intend to say?

If those are both the case, how did you get yourself into this situation?
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
When it says you all are supposed to "pay" the estate taxes, it means you are supposed to collect the amounts due from ALL BENEFICIARIES (including yourself) on a proportional basis, so that you can present the tax authorities with a total amount due.

You all paid the beneficiaries without deducting the estate tax first, right? And you didn't hire the services of an accountant before you paid out the amounts, right?

How much in total tax is due? You have the right to send a letter to the beneficiaries stating they were overpaid and that they will have to refund a certain portion of the amount they received. Make sure your accountant calculates the amount due correctly so that you will know how much to ask for from each beneficiary.

And your silly brother has been paid an inheritance and is not even responsible enough to want to pay back a few thousand dollars? I hope he gets put in jail for a long time.
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
Consider getting a loan from a bank or credit union to get the $4,500 bill paid off so that there will be no more penalties accruing. And then sue brother in small claims court for his half of the bill so you can win a judgment and start collecting by attaching his bank account.
 

joaw

Junior Member
-This is an addition to Original Post REMOVE EXECUTOR---- I had an attorney - it cost me over $10,000 and I am still in the same position. The Mediation was court appointed and we both agreed to it and signed it well over a year ago. My brother has not missed any opportunity to ignore the agreement. In May of this year we wnt back to court and the judge upheld that my brother had to pay his half of the accountant fee. By the way - I was never notified about this hearing in May - I only found out about it the day before by chance. My brother ansd his attorney never notified me even though they had the means to. The Judge was not pleased. The Judge kindly allowed me to appear Pro Se. At that hearing the Judge upheld the Mediation Agreement and my brother still insists on ignoring it. Question: aren't the executors (my brother & I) supposed to pay the taxes due on all of the estate REGARDLESS of who the money may have gone to - meaning, numerous beneficiaries? I really do not want to get a lawyer again if I don't have to - it was extremely expensive - I got little in the way of results - and I'd rather put the money toward the taxes due. Are there any suggestions?
This is a Second Addition to this Post - I got myself in this position by having an attorney who told me what to do. We are NOT talking about a million dollar estate. The bulk of the estate went to myself and my brother. My mother had left a little over $20,000 for us specifically to be used to pay the taxes and a cash amount to another brother. She did not want any money coming out of the smaller shares that were left to her grandchildren. My brother took half the money the day of my mother's funeral. While I was at the funeral luncheon paying the bill he left early to go back to her apartment and search for cash without my knowledge. I only have his word that this was the true amount found. This money left should have been almost enough to cover what was due for taxes BACK IN NOVEMBER OF 2005 when the estate taxes were due but not now. And you can't imagine the EXPLOSION and delays this caused when I informed my brother that I wanted the accountant to include this cash into the taxes. It is the right thing to do. I am not looking to cheat on taxes - I just want to get them done and done correctly. I am forced to do this tax return with a person who is up on two federal counts of embezzelemnt - I am sure that this return will be scrutinized - I want it to be as accurate as possible. As to why we didn't go to an accountant earlier - we couldn't - my brother was refusing to turn over any paperwork. After my mother's funeral he cleared out 90 percent of all the paperwork from her apartment - even with numerous requests from my attorney to return it - he did not comply. You can not get information on an account if you are not the beneficiary. Their privacy is protected. Even with this I did 95% of all the estate business myself - without any help or financial assistance from my brother. But now we are almost at 32 months of fines, penalties and interest - none of it my doing. I am not permitted to just pay half of the tax owed and sign the return alone. I am at my brother's mercy of if and when he will agree to sign. Here's a question - when this is finally said and done do I have legal recourse to sue my brother for these fines penalties and interest that he has caused for the past almost 3 years? But here's another question - if his federal indictments come up before we settle this estate and he is found guilty - he has a maximum of a $500,000 fine for each of his offenses (which puts him way over $1,000,000) which is more than the sum of his total assets. How would I even collect any money from him - there would be nothing left. This is a long and complicated tale and I am probably not expressing it well. Except to say that did what my lawyer and the Judge told me to do. It is emotioanl and physically exhausting just to rehash it this way. Am I the only one to go through something like this?
 

Farfalla

Member
Joaw,

Your ‘story’ is very hard to understand the way you present it. Can you answer some questions so we can get a clearer picture? No help can be given until we get this straight. The numbers you are giving and some of the things are you are saying do not add up. I’d like to clarify so it can all be more clear.

You say your mother left a little over $20,000. But it sounds like you really do not know how much she left since your brother took off with her papers. Is this right?

My brother took half the money the day of my mother's funeral. While I was at the funeral luncheon paying the bill he left early to go back to her apartment and search for cash without my knowledge. I only have his word that this was the true amount found.
What do you mean he took cash? Did your mother have large sums of money in the house? Or did he take paperwork for all of her accounts and than cash them in later?

If he took cash from the house, how much?

If he took papers and cashed in accounts. What accounts? How much I each of them? Where they only I her name or held jointly by your brother or someone else?

From what you said, after he did this ‘house cleaning’ there was $10,000 left that you were able to see/find. Is this right?

This money left should have been almost enough to cover what was due for taxes BACK IN NOVEMBER OF 2005 when the estate taxes were due but not now.
How much money was left? She had an estate of $20,000. How much tax estate tax could there possibly be on $20,000?

How much in bills did she have that also had to be paid out of the $20,000 she left? From what you wrote her estate was less than $20,000.

Estate taxes only apply for estates over 1 million. Why are you paying estate taxes?
http://www.ohioestateplanninglawyer.com/CustomPage_2.shtml


And you can't imagine the EXPLOSION and delays this caused when I informed my brother that I wanted the accountant to include this cash into the taxes. It is the right thing to do. I am not looking to cheat on taxes - I just want to get them done and done correctly.
Your post is not clear at all. What cash did you want included in the estate tax? Do you mean that you wanted your brother to give money towards taxes out of the money he took? Do you mean you wanted it included in the value of the estate? Or included to pay the taxes? Or both?

was your brother either a co-owner or a beneficiary on the accounts he took the money out of? (I’m assuming that the took money out of accounts and not out of cookie jars in the house)


I am forced to do this tax return with a person who is up on two federal counts of embezzelemnt
Is this embezzlement related to the estate? Or did your brother embezzle at work or somewhere else?

You can not get information on an account if you are not the beneficiary. Their privacy is protected.
Now this statement raises a lot of confusion.

Was your brother the listed beneficiary of the accounts he took money out of? If he was than those monies are NOT part of the estate. They are his free and clear.

An executor has every legal right to get info on the accounts of the deceased person they are representing. For example you can write a letter to each financial institution, ask them to provide information on accounts, the value on the date of death, persons who co-owned the accounts, etc. Did you try this instead of relying on your brother?



Even with this I did 95% of all the estate business myself - without any help or financial assistance from my brother. But now we are almost at 32 months of fines, penalties and interest - none of it my doing. I am not permitted to just pay half of the tax owed and sign the return alone. I am at my brother's mercy of if and when he will agree to sign. Here's a question - when this is finally said and done do I have legal recourse to sue my brother for these fines penalties and interest that he has caused for the past almost 3 years? But here's another question - if his federal indictments come up before we settle this estate and he is found guilty - he has a maximum of a $500,000 fine for each of his offenses (which puts him way over $1,000,000) which is more than the sum of his total assets. How would I even collect any money from him - there would be nothing left. QUOTE]
I don’t even understand why you say there are estate taxes on an estate of under $20,000. Especially since from what you said, your brother might have either been on your mother’s accounts or the beneficiary.

Can we clear that up first?
 

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