Question Regarding Stepmother's Estate

[Tikhon]

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

My stepbrother, sister and I are beneficiaries of my stepmother's estate and before she died, my stepbrother asked to be named executor of the rather sizable estate. Since he is an addict we had concerns about this particularly since he had moved into the basement of her home with his girlfriend who is a heroin addict after our father died.

When she passed in March of 2022, due to his resistance to allow us into the house to help with the inventory (our parents were collectors of antique clocks, jewelry, et cetera) we decided to hire an attorney to protect our interests.

On or around October of 2022, we received a phone call from our attorney saying that our stepbrother had been removed from being executor for co-mingling of funds and theft, when our stepbrother was removed as executor, he signed an affidavit stating that he would pay us the money that he stole from the estate, approximately $100,000.

So now we're approaching the finalizing of the estate and we have received a draft and final accounting from the estate where it itemizes all payments from the estate for taxes, real estate related closing fees, utility fees, legal fees, et cetera and there is a combined balance on hand that is remaining which, as I understand it is cash available for distribution to the beneficiaries.

The executor and the estate attorney have offered a partial distribution from the estate until the state approves the taxes paid on the estate and we've told our attorney several times that both want $20,000 and we want to know from the estate attorney:

1. Exactly how much is available for distribution?
2. How much each beneficiary is receiving?

The problem is that we've repeatedly requested this information from our attorney and as far as I can tell, the question has not been asked of the estate attorney.

The email churn is getting ridiculous and since we're being charged by the hour, it's very upsetting that our concerns are not being addressed after repeated requests and phone calls.

Question: At this point, the estate is set to close and I think we can sign the family settlement agreement, however due to the lack of responsiveness from our legal counsel, should we or is it advisable that we fire our attorney and at this point go it alone?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

My stepbrother, sister and I are beneficiaries of my stepmother's estate and before she died, my stepbrother asked to be named executor of the rather sizable estate. Since he is an addict we had concerns about this particularly since he had moved into the basement of her home with his girlfriend who is a heroin addict after our father died.

When she passed in March of 2022, due to his resistance to allow us into the house to help with the inventory (our parents were collectors of antique clocks, jewelry, et cetera) we decided to hire an attorney to protect our interests.

On or around October of 2022, we received a phone call from our attorney saying that our stepbrother had been removed from being executor for co-mingling of funds and theft, when our stepbrother was removed as executor, he signed an affidavit stating that he would pay us the money that he stole from the estate, approximately $100,000.

So now we're approaching the finalizing of the estate and we have received a draft and final accounting from the estate where it itemizes all payments from the estate for taxes, real estate related closing fees, utility fees, legal fees, et cetera and there is a combined balance on hand that is remaining which, as I understand it is cash available for distribution to the beneficiaries.

The executor and the estate attorney have offered a partial distribution from the estate until the state approves the taxes paid on the estate and we've told our attorney several times that both want $20,000 and we want to know from the estate attorney:

1. Exactly how much is available for distribution?
2. How much each beneficiary is receiving?

The problem is that we've repeatedly requested this information from our attorney and as far as I can tell, the question has not been asked of the estate attorney.

The email churn is getting ridiculous and since we're being charged by the hour, it's very upsetting that our concerns are not being addressed after repeated requests and phone calls.

Question: At this point, the estate is set to close and I think we can sign the family settlement agreement, however due to the lack of responsiveness from our legal counsel, should we or is it advisable that we fire our attorney and at this point go it alone?

Thanks in advance.

Do you really want to jump off the horse with 10 yards to go?

 

[zddoodah]

At this point, the estate is set to close and I think we can sign the family settlement agreement, however due to the lack of responsiveness from our legal counsel, should we or is it advisable that we fire our attorney and at this point go it alone?

There is no possible way anyone on an internet message board can assess this intelligently. What I can say is that lack of responsiveness is generally inexcusable. Ask for a meeting (in person) with your lawyer and explain that you're unhappy with what you perceive to be a lack of responsiveness. Then decide to keep him or fire/replace him based on how he responds.

 

[Zigner]

There is no possible way anyone on an internet message board can assess this intelligently. What I can say is that lack of responsiveness is generally inexcusable. Ask for a meeting (in person) with your lawyer and explain that you're unhappy with what you perceive to be a lack of responsiveness. Then decide to keep him or fire/replace him based on how he responds.

Maybe the OP can ask the attorney when they go in to sign the final documents when the estate closes (which sounds like it will happen any day).

 

[Tikhon]

Do you really want to jump off the horse with 10 yards to go?

Well, yes and no.

Here are the reasons we were considering this option:

1. We've been unable to get our lawyer to approve a partial distribution. Releasing them as our legal representation would allow us to communicate directly with the estate attorney.
2. So far we've waited over a month for the partial distribution and now we're heading into another weekend without any confirmation on this subject.
3. Our requests for information and actionable items have been largely ignored by our attorney.
4. There have been some dishonest responses where the attorney said that they did something and did not.
5. The email churn is killing us, for example there are times when several weeks pass and multiple emails are sent, received and re-sent asking for answers, clarifications, requesting confirmations, emails with missing attachments and nothing ever gets resolved.
6. We're being billed anywhere from $200 to $350 an hour for this dishonesty and incompetence.
7. Some of the staff have left the practice recently and there's rarely anyone that can assist when we call.
8. We recently asked for a meeting and the request was ignored.

Something is clearly wrong here

When we recently brought our concerns to the attention of our attorney, the response was not apologetic but a defensive one and I really don't want to get into an argument with someone who does it for a living, so trying to figure out how to stop the pain here.

The other option we can see is filing a complaint with the Supreme Court for the state we are in.