I Against 7

[LINDAB.]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? PA
IF EVERYTHING IS DIVIDED EQUALLY 8 WAYS HOW LONG DOES THE EXECUTOR OF A WILL HAVE TO DISTRIBUTE INHERITANCE TO THE OTHER 7 PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THE WILL.AND CAN HE SELL A CAR WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE OTHER 7 PEOPLE? GRANNY DIED IN OCTOBER 2004' AND THE WILL WAS REGISTARED IN DECEMBER 2004
THANKS!!
GRANNY'S ELDEST GRAND DAUGHTER,
LINDA

 

[anteater]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? PA
IF EVERYTHING IS DIVIDED EQUALLY 8 WAYS HOW LONG DOES THE EXECUTOR OF A WILL HAVE TO DISTRIBUTE INHERITANCE TO THE OTHER 7 PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THE WILL.AND CAN HE SELL A CAR WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE OTHER 7 PEOPLE? GRANNY DIED IN OCTOBER 2004' AND THE WILL WAS REGISTARED IN DECEMBER 2004
THANKS!!
GRANNY'S ELDEST GRAND DAUGHTER,
LINDA

Turn the Caps Lock off.

As long as the probate court will let him. Two months from when the will was probated is not long.

As long as there is not malfeasance or disregard for provisions of the will, the executor generally has broad powers. What do you want him to do? Get consensus among 8 people on every transaction?

 

[LINDAB.]

i appreciate your reply although your "consensus among 8 people on every transaction" wasn't. i guess you would need to know the administrator and 7 other people involved. i just went to a straight question with out going through a lenghthy story. if the will states " all and everything is to be divided equally and fairly among the 8 children" i thought a car was part of the estate so if it was sold for $80.00, he would owe everybody $10.00. i guess this is going to have to involve lawyers. thank you for your time and reply. :

 

[GaAtty]

GaAtty

If the will said divide between 8 people, then you interpreted it correctly. If the car was sold for $800, then each person should get $100. However, in the case of some things like cars, homes, and other things that can't be divided, common sense prevails. If one person is really nuts over the car and the other 7 don't care, the one person can "buy out" the interest of the other 7 by paying them the value of the other part, assuming a fair transaction. The executor should distribute everything in a reasonable period of time, and if it seems too long, there are court actions that can be brought against the executor. However, 6 months is definitely not too long and two months is a little short.

 

[LINDAB.]

thank you so much! i can't understand why my uncle is dragging his feet over my grandmothers estate. if you can please give me examples of court actions that can be taken against the executor. (my uncle doesn't live in pa. he lives in nj ) he does not communicate with the other brothers and sisters, only 1 brother.however we do know the name of the attorney that was handling the will matters for my uncle. he (attorney) sent each of the 8 children copies of the will. he never had a reading of the will nor has ever contacted them. only the uncle who is the executor. should my father just go to that lawyer and ask questions? my father is the eldest of my grandmothers children and is mentioned in the will. there is only 3, my father , 1 aunt and 1 uncle that have no greed intentions. they just want it settled.you can't imagin greed until somebody you love dies and the snakes start coming out of the wood work!! i also think my uncle thinks the definition of executor is " let it all go to your head"
what do you suggest? thank you for taking the time to reply. i look forward to your reply and the reply from others.

 

[anteater]

You have to understand that the responsibility of the executor is to follow the intentions of the deceased under the supervision of the probate court. The executor reports to the probate court, not to the beneficiaries. Until the time comes to close the estate, the executor is not required to consult with or report to the beneficiaries. Generally, before that, about the only legal obligation is to notify beneficiaries that they may stand to inherit under the terms of the will, which it sounds like the executor did. There may be states that require an actual "reading of the will," but I am not aware of them. And I know that PA is not one of them.

Now, it would be nice if the executor were to communicate regulalry and try to accomodate individual beneficiary wishes within the terms of the will. But that is not an obligation. My point about "consensus among 8 people" was that the executor may have simply decided that trying to get 8 people to agree on things is simply opening himself up to a whirlwind of time-consuming trouble amd using his authority as executor to do what the will dictates is the better course.

Similarly, the attorney for the estate works for the executor, not the beneficiaries. The estate attorney may or may not be willing to answer questions from beneficiaries. It is my experience that most estate attornies will decline to so unless authorized by the executor, particularly if there appears to be contentionous among the beneficiaries.

You keep referring to the uncles "dragging his feet." As GaAtty said, opening probate in less than 2 months is reasonable. 6 months to close the estate is very reasonable. I would have pushed that to one year. Think about this: what if the executor rushes things, distributes all the estate assets, and a previously unknown creditor pops up within the timeframe that PA law allows a creditor to make a claim against the estate? The executor could be held personally liable to the creditor.

I keep looking at your posts for some sign of wrongdoing on the exeuctor's part. I see complaints about foot dragging (2 months isn't by itself foot dragging), lack of communication, and "let it all go to your head." None of those is going to get you very far before the probate judge. Also, some hints about the car, but nothing specific. Certainly, if uncle sold the car and intends to simply pocket the money, or gave it away, or sold it for far less than fair market value, then you have something to object to. If he sold it for fair market value and the sale proceeds are to be part of the estate to be distributed according to the will, then there is no wrongdoing.

 

[LINDAB.]

As I have stated before, you must know the entire story and people involved.
I have seen deaths in my family and in my husbands family. The wishes of all the wills has been carried out in a quick yet timely manner. Everyone who was to inherit was kept informed of the goings on. In this case my uncle has not spoke with anyone (except 1 brother) else mentioned in the will. They would all like to know whats going on and they believe that because they are ALL mentioned and everything is to be shared equally..... he should be in contact. Thats the way it is, if they don't push the issue he will not deal with this in a timely manner. For the past 5 years until the time of her death , granny didn't live in her home. It was left empty and my uncle has continued to pay the bills for it out of her accounts. The one brother he does talk with had my granny living with him. Another example, she had bed sores that one went clear through to her bone. The brothers and sisters brought this up, said that the house needed to be sold so that granny could be put in a rest home where she would get the attention she needed. The answer? NO! Thats just an example of whats been going on. In the 5 years , my uncle who also had power of attorney for her before she died only came to pa. maybe 4 times, he lives in NJ. When my granny went to the hospital where she died he called nobody! Thank god I knew somebody who worked at the hospital and called me. It truely is all about greed for him and the other uncle., by the way the other uncle has been going and taking things out of the house that belonged to granny...... isn't that considered "part of her astate". They never shovel the side walks at this house either. I don't know where you live but we are in North Eastern Pa. and we get ALOT of snow. Should somebody fall , such as the mail man.... he would sue who ? Bottom line is that the 2 uncles are like theives in the night and the other brothers and sisters want the wishes of the will carried out as quickly as possible so that there will be finale closure . I thought there would be a time period like 12 months, then they could get a lawyer and force his hand to have everything finished. There is so much more to the story but I'm sure you don't have the time and I really don't want to get into the whole thing being that I too don't have the time. Thank you for the communication and advice I truely do appreciate it. I also look forward to you or anyone else giving advice.