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Question about procedure..

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PocketLint

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Virginia.


I have a question about a check (actually a money order) I recently received.

A bit of background...
Oh my fathers side of the family, my grandfather passed away many years ago leaving his estate to my grandmother.
My father passed away about two years ago and was survived buy his mother and three siblings.
6 months ago my grandmother passed away. My Uncle told myself and my three siblings something to the effect of..

"After your fathers death, Your Grandmother forgot to take your Dad out of the will. It looks like there is some money left to your Dad and he is sending out a check for $110.00 to myself and each of my (3) siblings."

Since then My Uncle too has passed away. It has been about 1 month since I received the money order. I have not yet cashed the check because something does not seem right here.


1) The check is a money order. Paid from my Uncles bank, purchased by my uncle. I would have thought it would have come from the estate of my grandmother, at least her lawyers office.

2) There was nothing showing the breakout of the will. Not that I expected that but I have no way of knowing if that amount is correct.

3) Grandmother had a substantial estate I belive.


I find it odd that with my Dad being so close to Grandma that she only left him $440.00.

Is this normal procedure for settling an estate? This just feels wrong on the wrong side.

I live in Virginia but the will was executed in New York.

Any advice would be appreciated,
PocketLint
 


Dandy Don

Senior Member
There is nothing wrong with cashing the money order, since it's yours, but you need to do further investigating.

The statement about her "forgetting to take dad out of the will" is very odd--your grandmother wrote her will exactly the way she wanted to and it looks like she wanted him IN it.

You need to contact the county courthouse probate court/surrogate court where your grandmother's estate was probated and order copies of the entire probate file be sent to you by mail (which of course you will pay for) so you can review the entire estate to see what it was worth and how it was distributed.

Why have you only waited until now to check into this?

Hopefully if your uncle was the executor that he handled everything correctly, but if he didn't you can have a lawyer review it to see if you have any options to recover anything and perhaps file a claim against your uncle's estate if there is proof of misappropriation/theft.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])
 

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