Grandma's will

[conniesuebeale]

My grandmother passed away 18 months ago. While she was in the nursing home, my uncle had her sign a paper stipulating that he was the executor. She has a small home, one CD, and a few stocks. There are 3 sons and two grandaughters that are her heirs. The two grandaughters are myself and my sister. Our mother passed away years ago so we are the 4th heir. SO there are three uncles and the two grandaughters that are heirs.

One of my uncles and I (I'm my mother's daughter) are trying to find out what the hold up is. My uncle who had her sign the papers is dragging his feet. He claims he has to wait a little longer before things are taken care of. Meanwhile he is living in Grandma's house free of charge. We think he's paying his bills using her funds as well. We know that the will stipulated 4 heirs, yet he's in control some how. I can't even find out the name of the lawyer. The first lawyer died, (he was 88) and the new one has taken over. We want our uncle to pay us for the house and put our names on the stocks and CD and finish this matter up. Any advice?

Sincerely,
cb

 

[ALawyer]

Get a local lawyer to prod him.

 

[advisor10]

(01-16-2001)

PLEASE BE PATIENT JUST A LITTLE WHILE LONGER and don't be unduly concerned just yet. Depending on how simple or how complicated your grandmother's estate was, it does take a fair amount of processing time to pay all the debts, review the title to her home (QUESTION #1--WAS THE HOME ALREADY OWNED AND PAID FOR IN FULL BY HER, OR DID SHE STILL OWE MORTGAGE PAYMENTS ON IT?), do the transfer paperwork on the stocks and CD (QUESTION #2--DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THE CD IS WORTH?), etc. The Executor Uncle is probably having an estate/probate attorney look over everything to make sure he is doing everything correctly. If the Executor Uncle is acting in good faith, YOU WILL BE NOTIFIED AT THE PROPER TIME when he has finished doing the work and I am almost sure you will be receiving a check for your share of the estate.


(1) CHECK AT THE PROBATE RECORDS SECTION OF THE COUNTY COURTHOUSE (of the city where your grandmother died) to see if the will has even been filed yet. If it has, it's a public document--you can look at the file and make copies if you wish. If you can't visit the courthouse in person, you can order the copies by mail--send me an e-mail if you need me to look up the address and phone of the county courthouse.


(2) QUESTION #3--HOW DID YOU KNOW WHO THE HEIRS ARE?--DID YOUR GRANDMOTHER TELL YOU OR HAVE YOU ALREADY SEEN THE WILL? If possible, you should try to get a copy of the will, just so you'll know what you might be entitled to receive. What year did the 88-year old lawyer die? If you can't contact his previous office to find out what happened to his files to see if the will might still be there (so you could get a copy), then you should write a letter to the Uncle Executor POLITELY asking him to please mail you a copy of the will. This way you can at least document the fact that you made an effort to communicate with him, in the unlikely event that you might want to later challenge his distribution of the assets in case he didn't do everything exactly right or misappropriated funds (give him the benefit of the doubt that he is doing things right until you find reason to believe otherwise). After he has filed the will for probate, there should be documents in that file that shows a list of all the assets/property and how he handled them.


(3) YOU CAN'T JUST AUTOMATICALLY DEMAND THAT YOUR UNCLE PAY YOU FOR YOUR SHARE OF THE HOUSE. How the house is handled depends on how (OR, IF) it is mentioned in the will and in accordance with state probate law. He CAN'T just add your names to the stocks and the CD, but will probably cash them in, and hopefully will distribute the monies among the heirs according to the will's instructions.

Make your decision on whether or not you will need a probate/attorney to represent your own interests depending on what you think the value is of your portion of the estate.

SINCERELY,

[email protected]