lost inheritance?

California - A relative passed away in 1978. A will was recently found with a family member listed as a beneficiary. Inheritance was never collected. Can the inheritance be collected after all of these years have passed? How would you go about getting all of the necessary information needed to close this chapter. If the law firm that administered the will is no longer in business, where does the paperwork from all of those years in business go?

To much time has passed

After 7 years you are out of luck unless you take this will you have found and present it to the party who collected and show them, it would be up to them as to your getting anything, they would probably just laugh in your face and say "where have you been all these years"??????, that money was spent long ago. This is a personal opinion based on my own experience, Buck

FEB. 17, 2001

DEAR FRUITCAKES25:

What an interesting situation you have! The passage of so much time is a major disadvantage, but there is still a small chance that some funds might be left over.

If you know the city and state and the month and year that this relative died, then go to the county courthouse to see if a will was ever filed for the decedent. (If you don't have that information, send me an e-mail message, separately, to the e-mail address shown below, and I can look it up for you). The file will show financial documents and other related documents to show how the estate was handled and distributed, and you can look at the file at no charge. You need to find out whether or not this beneficiary's name was listed in the will that was filed (if any).

Even if there was no will filed, someone in the family was probably appointed as "Personal Representative" to handle the affairs (called an "Administration of the Estate") of the decedent, and their name and address will be shown there. This is the person you may want to contact to ask any questions or to tell them about the will you found.

On the negative side, the Personal Representative has probably already distributed any funds from the estate according to the state probate laws of California, and there is probably nothing left now. If there was something left over for the family member who was listed as a beneficiary, and the Personal Representative did not know how to find that person, then the money properly should have been set aside in a bank account until the beneficiary could be located.

It wouldn't do very much good to try to contact the law office firm if they are out of business, although if you needed to you could place a small classified ad in the newspaper about it or contact the county bar association because other attorneys usually know what has happened to previous professional colleagues or their staff. The records were most likely put in storage, so it is possible that the file may still be there, but there is almost no reason to do this (since you have the will) unless it would be to try to speak to the original attorney who handled it to ask him some questions on why it wasn't filed, etc.
S
On the positive side, I can check some asset locator databases (to see if possibly some funds were set aside) if you will send me a separate e-mail message (to the e-mail address shown below) that includes:

(1) Name of Deceased Relative
Date of Birth
Date of Death
Last known street address
City/State of Death

(2) Name of Beneficiary
City/State of their Current Address

It's somewhat of a long shot, but if the funds are still there, they can still be claimed.

SINCERELY,

[email protected]