will

[wdtott]

indiana:my grandmother died 6 months ago,my uncle
was named financial manager of her money aprox
5 years ago and she transfered approx $100,000
to him to be placed in secure investment.he also was made executor of the will.
My father is deceased and my uncle told me
he could not place money in my fathers name because he is dead. He placed the money in his
name and the living sisters names.now uncle
says that there is not enough assets in the estate
for it to be an estate.only her house is left to
be sold. he is apprasing it at $24,000.00
the will has provided me with a very small portion
of the house.my fathers portion but my grandmother told me that i was to recieve my fathers portion of the money and the house.i recently recieved
paperwork from my uncles attorney to sign for
a quick claim deed to be issued to my uncle for
the house.i contacted the attorney requesting
a copy of the will and to have it noterized
he refused to have it noterized but is sending me a copy.
the least amount a house has sold for in her area
is $49,000.00 i have been told that the indiana
min for probate is the estate to be worth $25,000.00 is there anything i can do to get my
fathers portion of the money grandmother placed in
my uncles trust to be given to me ? and what should i do about the quick claim deed ?

 

[ALawyer]

I would ask for the basis on which he is asserting that the house is worth only $25,000 before signing anything, at the very least. I also might get a local real estate office to do a drive by appraisal.

As for the other money, a lawyer would really have to look at the facts, paper trail and investment results.

 

[advisor10]

11-30-2001

DEAR WDTOTT:

I am not familiar with Indiana law but I just wanted to mention some general guidelines for you to consider.

Your uncle's statement "that he could not place the money in your father's name because he is dead" is not completely true and was perhaps said to mislead you. It would depend on what type of investment he put the money in (was it stocks? bonds? CD's? was it in a trust account at a bank?) Did he ever give any clues as to how he invested the money? In any case, there is no excuse for him putting the money in his own name (that is basically stealing) if he has no intent of paying the beneficiaries of your mother's estate or returning the money to the estate. The title on the account could have been "For the Estate of YOUR FATHER'S NAME or YOUR MOTHER'S
NAME and he would have been listed only as a custodian/manager of the account until some later date when the money is disposed of properly.

Your posting is somewhat confusing since you don't mention why the money would need to be placed in your FATHER's name. It would make more sense for it to have been placed in your MOTHER's name if she was the one it came from. Would you be able to provide documented proof that she signed over the money to him (perhaps by getting a copy of her cancelled check from her bank, or by you asking your attorney to subpoena the uncle's bank account to prove if he deposited the money in his account or had it transferred out later on into whatever he invested it in)? Is there any type of document (with either his or her signature) that shows she was giving this money to him only as a temporary investment? Is there anyone else in the family who knew about this investment who could furnish you with a signed affidavit that this was her intention to only have the money invested and that he knew the money was not his? These are the types of questions that an attorney would want to know before he would decide to represent you.

You need to have a consultation with a local attorney to find out whether you yourself can file a petition or a letter with the probate court to ask this executor to provide details about the $100,000 investment, or whether you would need to hire an attorney to do it for you.

He was correct in stating that the copy of the will he is sending you does not have to be notarized. Notarizing is only done to witness your mother's signature at the time she made her will. After you receive your copy, check at the county courthouse probate court to make sure your copy is exactly the same as the one that is filed with the court (it most likely will be the same).

You need to find out if you are named as a beneficiary in the will, and whether or not there is a trust set up in your mother's name (if so, you will need to find out who is the trustee and what bank is it held at). See if the house is mentioned in the will and who will get it. If you will be a beneficiary of the house, then do NOT sign the quitclaim deed, since signing it would mean you are giving up your rights to your share of the house. You would then need to decide whether the house will be sold (and you get your share of the profits) or whether someone will continue to live there now and perhaps you all continue to collect the rent.

Just because other houses in that area/neighborhood sold for $49,000 doesn't necessarily mean that your mother's house will sell for that much (although that is a good indicator). A lot will depend on the CONDITION of the home and how worn it is or how well it has held up. You need to ask a professional to get an appraisal done for your own purposes just to see what they say the value is and to find out whether or not your uncle was telling the truth--if your appraisal turns out that the house is worth more, then that may be something else you want to inform the probate court about.

Tell your uncle that you will not be making any decision about signing the quitclaim deed until you have had a chance to examine the will to find out whether you will be receiving anything from it or from the trust (if your mother has a trust).

Are there any other relatives (your brothers and sisters, or other uncles/aunts, who might be considered potential beneficiaries of this estate?

SINCERELY,

[email protected]

 

[wdtott]

Will

My uncles Lawyer said they have not filed in probate and do not plan on it. He said there is
no estate. he said the moneys were transfered
to CD's in my uncles name and aunt;s names.
I just got a copy of the will. It was never
noterized and no lawyer helped draw it up.
just 4 pages with grandmas initials on each page.
her initials do not even resemble her signiture
on the final page either. And there is a special clause on the will that I am to only recieve
1-1/2% of the estate.or $1,000.00 which ever
is the lesser. My uncle i think has altered
the will. Grandma told me I was to get my fathers
share of everything. Uncles lawyer says in indiana
they do not have to file in probate if the estate
is worth less then $25,000.00 that is why they are
valueing her house at only $24,000 this is only
my opinion thou. I am very mixed up on what to
do. I know i am not signing any quick claim deed
over to him. however it states in the will that
Uncle has all power to sell ect. ect. all things
he so desires in the estate. and also he does not have to sell her house.I really don't even see why they want me to sign a quick claim deed. this is a mess

 

[ALawyer]

This sounds like fraud.

You'll need to get a lawyer to help you, and file to be the administrator of the estate. Uncle can then try to come in with the Will, and try to have it probated, but if it is tyoed and only initialed and not signed or witnessed it probably is not valid.

You can, after being appointed adminstrator, demand an accounting of the investment they gave him.

 

[advisor10]

12-4-2001

DEAR WDTOTT:

You may need to talk to 3-4 probate lawyers before one decides to take this case, but you DO need a lawyer to at least object to the will or to force it to be filed in probate court. The main thing your lawyer will need to do is to get the information in court about the $100,000 in CD's (whose names are they in and at what bank), because they need to be reported and included as part of the estate, which of course would raise the value of the estate to over $25,000 to require a filing.

If you don't get a lawyer, the probate court will have no way of knowing that you object to the will and there is a small chance it might be accepted as legal. You need to make your voice known about the $100,000 so that the court can see that this executor is somewhat less than completely honest in his dealings.

SINCERELY,

[email protected]