Letter of instruction?

[ddtexas]

My father passed away in April 2000. He had a living will that appointed the oldest son as the executor of his affairs in case of his death. There are six living children. Most of the assets were life insurance, checking and saving accounts, sales of his car and household effects, etc. The last asset is a mutual fund. In the course of dealing with all of this it was determined that my Dad's living will was not on the up and up. He did it himself. We are now having problems with dispersing the mutual fund.

The investment group sent us this letter today. I quote,

"You may redeem from the name of the decedent to the heirs or legal representative by providing the following information: The legal representative(s) must submit a letter of instruction with written authorization from the heirs of the estate to transfer ownership of the account to (my brother). The written authorizations must be signed by each heir and their signatures guaranteed."

It goes on to explain about a signature guarantee stamp as opposed to a notary etc.

It states "Upon receipt of the above requested item in good order, we will be happy to comply with your request.

So my question is - who would write this letter of instruction? Is there a form letter example somewhere? All six of the siblings are in agreement that the money be transferred to my brother and he will disperse to all of us after funeral expenses etc. Can we each write our own letter? Or do we have to have an attorney write the letter. Any light you can shed on this would be greatly appreciated. We reside in the state of Texas.

 

[lawrat]

I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.

I think you should go see an attorney because of not only this letter but of you saying his will was not on the up and up. Handwritten/self done wills are on the up and up unless someone is contesting it or something.

try http://www.attorneypages.com or call your state bar

 

[ddtexas]

The only entity that will not accept the will is the investment firm that is holding this mutual fund. The will is three pages long and although my Dad had someone sign it as a witness, it is not signed and/or initialed and dated on each page. Basically all it says is that if he is gorked out he does not want a ventilator and that in the event of his death my brother is in charge of dispersing everything. It did mention a few items that were to be for each of us individually. We have already split everything else six ways, but this fund is rather large and although it was tax free for him, my accountant says that we will have to pay tax on all that is earned from the date of his death. We are getting close to nine months now and hoping to resolve as soon as possible.