Disinherited by Mother - Court Summons

[esrun]

What is the name of your state? Ohio

My wife has been estranged from her family for over 3 years. Her Mother died in 2002 and disinherited my Wife from her Estate in the Will (father died 5 years ago). We recently received a summons from Common Pleas Court as a Defendant. Seems her Mother took an equity loan out on her house in 2000 for $89,000. Now the Bank wants the money and is suing all 3 children and their spouses. My wife did not know anything about this, and never received a cent. Her mother died pennyless. The other 2 children were named as heirs, have been seen driving brand new automobiles shortly after the equity loan was taken out, so draw your own conclusions. My wife is ok with her Mothers wishes, and did not contest the will. My question is what should we do about this summons? We certainly cannot be held responsible for this missing money, can we? What can happen if we ignore it? Should we contact the Attorney for the Bank with this information?

 

[Dandy Don]

If you know who the EXECUTOR of your mother's estate was, contact the executor to make sure he/she knows about this matter, although it is likely that the bank sent the executor a notice, as well, but you need to make sure the executor knows about this, since it is his/her primary responsibility.

Executor may be partially at fault because they were responsible for finding out about all business matters regarding the estate, although it is possible that there is a good reason that they may not have known about the loan. Executor needs to find out if the executor posted a bond for this estate--if the answer is yes, then he/she might be able to file a claim with the bonding insurance company to cover the $89,000--if the answer is no, then the executor and/or heirs may be liable for the expense.

If your wife never received anything from the estate, then she is pretty much in the clear since she was determined not to be a valid heir.

Don't ignore the summons, since that would be foolish. Attend the first hearing/meeting at whatever time the summons says you should be there, and just answer any questions truthfully. Please do not contact the attorney for the bank before the summons hearing, since any information you provide would give them the advantage of being able to use that information to their benefit to beat you over the head with it at the actual hearing.

Executor and the "paid" heirs need to get together before the summons hearing to decide what they are going to do--if they can afford to pay back all or part of the money, they need to be getting their financial affairs in order, or else prepare to negotiate a contract with the bank to make monthly payments to get the $89K paid off.

 

[esrun]

Thank You

Additional Information:

The Executor of the Estate is my wife’s Brother (one of the 3 children) and she is estranged from him. We have contacted an Attorney on our behalf, and he is willing to review the papers and send out letters stating that she or I should not be held responsible. He’s charging $300 to do this. I guess it’s a small price to pay.

We would appreciate any other comments on this matter.

Thank you so much.