What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NC
My mother passed away 1-31-12. She had a Will and an attorney was named to be the executor. He officially retired the day she passed away and could not deal with the Will. No 2nd person was named in the Will but my mom told me if for some reason the attorney could not do it, she wanted me to handle her Will. So, that is just what I am doing, but have some questions I hope I can get some helpful answers on.
First thing, I have 2 brothers and 1 sister. Sister is deceased and I know where 1 brother is. The other brother no one has seen or heard from in 20+ years but Clerk of Court said I HAD to find him for he along with all the other need to sign a form stating he does not want to be executor and accepts I am applying to be executor. So, after weeks of searching with no luck at all, I hired a private detective. He gave me an address for my missing brother but no phone #. I have sent letters and sent letters and he is obviousely not going to respond. What would my next step be? Can I put a notice directed TO HIM in the local paper where he lives or have the Clerk of Court send something stating if he does not respond he loses his right to apply as executor?
Secondly, my sister was to receive money upon my mothers death but she is deceased. So I assume her part rolls to her kids. She has 2, but she gave up her parental rights to them when they were little boys and they spent their life in foster care and possibly both were legally adopted but I am unsure. I found 1 and he is in a prison in PA. The other the private detective I hired to locate my brother I also paid to locate my missing nephew. He gave me an address but again no phone number. I have sent letters to him as well and no response. I was told whether adopted or not, they were entitled to their share of money since their mom, my sister, passed away. If the one missing nephew won't respond to my letters, what would be my next step them? Doesn't his share of the money go into a special account for him?
My last 2 questions are my dad owned stock. He passed 05-24-2005 and my mom was the beneficiary to the stocks. Neither ever mentioned how much stock or anything to us kids. In my moms Will she had all stocks were to be sold and put into the estate account to help pay any bills then distributed to named heirs. I found out that the stock was never actually signed over into my moms name when my dad died even though she was the beneficiary listed on the stocks. I have been told several different things on how it would have to be handled by the company and no answers have been the same. My dads Will named my mom as beneficiary to everything and an attorney handled everything and nothing went to probate or anything. So I was told to fill out a "waiver of probate" and fax it plus a copy of my dads death certificate to the company and they would transfer the stocks into my moms estate account. Another person from the company stated I would have to open probate for my dad, have the stocks changed into my moms name, then have them transferred into her estate account?? I only know the value of 1 certificate and it is $37,000 but was also told there are 4 more certificates but cannot be told the value or anything until made executor so have no idea what the other 4 certificate values are (stating this information incase it makes a difference as to what needs to be done). Where do I find the "waiver of probate form" and is the correct thing to do or must I open up probate under my father who passed away in 2005? The lady who said I needed to just fill out the "waiver of probate" told me to include in the letter his date of death and my address so is it just a letter I type up or a legal form? Also, there is an IRA, as far as I know it is a simple IRA. In her Will, she states any and all IRAs, CDs, Stocks, and etc are to be sold or cashed out and added to estate account to pay bills and whatever left to be divided amongst the named heirs. So do I have no other option than to have her IRA transferred to the accont? Was really hoping to not be hit by all the taxes and penalties from cashing it out but being how the Will stated it was to be cashed out and added to the estate account I was not sure if there was another possible solution to avoid the heavy taxes and penalties.
My apologies for so many questions and for being so long but these are the things I need answers to as soon as I can get them so that I can continue on handling the estate.Thanks for any and all helpful advice/information.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
My mother passed away 1-31-12. She had a Will and an attorney was named to be the executor. He officially retired the day she passed away and could not deal with the Will. No 2nd person was named in the Will but my mom told me if for some reason the attorney could not do it, she wanted me to handle her Will. So, that is just what I am doing, but have some questions I hope I can get some helpful answers on.
First thing, I have 2 brothers and 1 sister. Sister is deceased and I know where 1 brother is. The other brother no one has seen or heard from in 20+ years but Clerk of Court said I HAD to find him for he along with all the other need to sign a form stating he does not want to be executor and accepts I am applying to be executor. So, after weeks of searching with no luck at all, I hired a private detective. He gave me an address for my missing brother but no phone #. I have sent letters and sent letters and he is obviousely not going to respond. What would my next step be? Can I put a notice directed TO HIM in the local paper where he lives or have the Clerk of Court send something stating if he does not respond he loses his right to apply as executor?
Secondly, my sister was to receive money upon my mothers death but she is deceased. So I assume her part rolls to her kids. She has 2, but she gave up her parental rights to them when they were little boys and they spent their life in foster care and possibly both were legally adopted but I am unsure. I found 1 and he is in a prison in PA. The other the private detective I hired to locate my brother I also paid to locate my missing nephew. He gave me an address but again no phone number. I have sent letters to him as well and no response. I was told whether adopted or not, they were entitled to their share of money since their mom, my sister, passed away. If the one missing nephew won't respond to my letters, what would be my next step them? Doesn't his share of the money go into a special account for him?
My last 2 questions are my dad owned stock. He passed 05-24-2005 and my mom was the beneficiary to the stocks. Neither ever mentioned how much stock or anything to us kids. In my moms Will she had all stocks were to be sold and put into the estate account to help pay any bills then distributed to named heirs. I found out that the stock was never actually signed over into my moms name when my dad died even though she was the beneficiary listed on the stocks. I have been told several different things on how it would have to be handled by the company and no answers have been the same. My dads Will named my mom as beneficiary to everything and an attorney handled everything and nothing went to probate or anything. So I was told to fill out a "waiver of probate" and fax it plus a copy of my dads death certificate to the company and they would transfer the stocks into my moms estate account. Another person from the company stated I would have to open probate for my dad, have the stocks changed into my moms name, then have them transferred into her estate account?? I only know the value of 1 certificate and it is $37,000 but was also told there are 4 more certificates but cannot be told the value or anything until made executor so have no idea what the other 4 certificate values are (stating this information incase it makes a difference as to what needs to be done). Where do I find the "waiver of probate form" and is the correct thing to do or must I open up probate under my father who passed away in 2005? The lady who said I needed to just fill out the "waiver of probate" told me to include in the letter his date of death and my address so is it just a letter I type up or a legal form? Also, there is an IRA, as far as I know it is a simple IRA. In her Will, she states any and all IRAs, CDs, Stocks, and etc are to be sold or cashed out and added to estate account to pay bills and whatever left to be divided amongst the named heirs. So do I have no other option than to have her IRA transferred to the accont? Was really hoping to not be hit by all the taxes and penalties from cashing it out but being how the Will stated it was to be cashed out and added to the estate account I was not sure if there was another possible solution to avoid the heavy taxes and penalties.
My apologies for so many questions and for being so long but these are the things I need answers to as soon as I can get them so that I can continue on handling the estate.Thanks for any and all helpful advice/information.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?