raw deal

[brianlrb]

My Grandmother passed away in late 1998 in Arizona. Her will disapeared and the estate had to go to probate. My loser bio father is in prison and is the sole heir to the estate. However, due to his incarceration he was unable to be the representative for the estate and I was working too much to do it myself. So we agreed to let my 2nd cousin be the rep. We then had a three way telephone conversation agreeing that the estate would be split between my cousin and I and my Cousin would set up an account out of his share to take care of my fathers money needs. I do have a written letter by the lawyer to my father stating this. I also have my grandmothers friends who swear that she stated to them that I was to split the estate with my father. And that is the last thing I heard from them. Six months later my father asked me to send him some money and it took me awhile to send it and during that time he borrowed money from big bubba in prison and bubba was charging him interest on it. Needless to say he ended up in some trouble and he blamed me. So I guess during that time he change the family agreement to the following. Due to his incarceration he is unable to utilize the proceeds of the estate which he is entiled as the lawyer put it in the family agreement that was put before the court. In that family agreement my father was to recieve some insurance policy. I was to receive her car and my 2nd cousin was to receive the rest of the estate to do as he pleased with and no futher legal action. My father did sign this agreement and it was approved by the court. I was never informed of this change and I never receivede any paper work showing how it was to be split. I never even received paper work stating that the estate closed until now when I called my cousins lawyer and asked if the estate closed and he sent me the paper work on my request. My questios are as follows:

1. Since my Father waived his right to the estate would I not be the next in line to the estate, not my cousin even though my father chagned the agreement to read so.

2. Is not my cousin still obligated to me to split the estate since he was in that agreement to do so.


Thank you for your time.

Brian R. Walters

 

[advisor10]

It Sure Was A Raw Deal!

11-14-2000


Your message doesn't say where you live, but since the will was most likely probated in Arizona, where the death occurred, it would be in your best interests to speak with an attorney in Arizona who specializes in estate/probate matters. If you don't know how to find one, let me know and I can advise you on possible leads.

Any attorney would listen to you for free during the first 15 minutes of meeting with him, just to get an idea of the complexity of your case. He would need to look at the documents you have before making a decision. It sounds as if you were taken advantage of, and you do need legal representation to sue the guilty parties for your share of that estate, and even if they have spent the monies, you could still file an action to recover some of their personal property which you could sell to get cash, if you wanted to do that.

You also need to make a visit (or order the documents by mail) to the county courthouse where your grandmother's will was filed. The probate file of anyone is a PUBLIC RECORD which anyone can have access to. You need to ask how many pages are in her probate file and you need to look at EVERY DOCUMENT in the probate file (or have EVERY DOCUMENT in the file photocopied for you), as the lawyer may not have sent you the entire file, only those pages which he may have thought might have affected you. Many times there is other financial information about other assets and how they were handled, and you get a COMPLETE picture of how everything in the estate was handled. Then you would have a better idea of what your share would rightfully be.

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