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Will-less Uncle... IN

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talianna

Guest
Well over a year ago, my uncle passed away. He had two brothers and two sisters left living, no children, no wife. He died rather suddenly, and apparently left no will.
My mother was the one who found him, and went with him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. In his clothing, he had several large checks and cash, which she took. At the funeral home when the family got together to make arrangements, my mother's sister was unofficially appointed to take care of settling his estate. (There wasn't much.) At that time, my mother handed over the checks and cash, and the cash was paid on his funeral bill. One of my uncles knew the person that the checks were from and volunteered to get the cash from the person to pay on the funeral bill and other expenses. He was given the checks.
A few weeks after the funeral, the other uncle threw a fit, started making accusations of my aunt, and demanded that HE would take care of the estate. My aunt's husband was terminally ill, so she agreed. The money was never paid on the funeral bill, when my aunt's husband died, the funeral home took the insurance money that should have been paid on her husband's funeral and put it on my uncle's bill "because it was first", and they're saying they never got anything.
As far as we know, my uncle has never paid any of my deceased uncle's bills, has never been legally declared the executor, has whatever possessions of my uncle's there were, and the other uncle got the cash (we verified that the person gave him cash for the checks).
Is there anything we can do, legally, to make him settle the debts or turn everything over to someone who will?
Does my uncle have the right to hang onto everything of my deceased uncle's just because he has it?
Also, my deceased uncle had a motor home that he stored things in. That's the only thing my uncle doesn't have. It's on my parents' property. Can they enter it or move it or do anything with it? It's been in the same spot for well over 10 years.
 


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advisor10

Guest
11-26-2001

DEAR TALIANNA:

There may not be much you can do to correct this situation, since I'm sure you realize that (even though her intentions were good) your mother made a major mistake by handing over the checks and cash to the uncle. His weak defense is going to be that you all voluntarily "gave" him the money. Those items should have been given only to whoever was going to be the estate administrator.

(1) Since your aunt was officially appointed to take care of settling his estate, has she filed paperwork at the courthouse to be appointed administratix of his estate? If she hasn't done this, she (or someone else in the family) needs to consult with a local probate attorney to find out if she can ask the probate court judge if he can issue an order to the uncle to demand that he provide the court with an accounting of how he spent these estate funds (that legally belong to the estate, not the uncle) or to have him reimburse these funds to the estate.

(2) It is illegal (AND UNBELIEVABLE!) for the funeral home to use the money for your aunt's husband's funeral by misapplying it to the other deceased uncle's funeral. Saying "because it was first" is not a good excuse for them to use. Contact your local better business bureau to file a complaint and also call another local funeral home or your local congressman/or senator to find out the name of the government agency (I think it might be the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov) or state funeral home director's society organization to file a complaint with them also.

You should insist (by sending the funeral home a certified letter) that the funeral home immediately correct the situation by having the money applied to the correct party's funeral (and then by sending your aunt an invoice and a letter verifying that the correction has been made). Then ask them to submit the bill for the past due funeral to the address of the officially named administratrix for payment.

SINCERELY,

[email protected]
 
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talianna

Guest
THANK YOU!
I'm going to print your reply out and take it to my aunt so she can see that what they did was wrong. She's actually trying to come up with the money for her husband's funeral by selling off things of his, when there was enough from his insurance for that specific purpose.
As for my first uncle, who had the money on him, the cash at the time was handed over to the funeral home. The rest is in limbo now (also known as my uncle's pockets, or that van he bought not long after my uncle died). Unless he's done it without lording it over everyone (not likely in this case), my other uncle's not done a thing about getting the estate settled. He and the other uncle, who took the checks to be cashed, tend to stick together on things. I'd do more checking into it, but my parents don't want waves made because they're neighbors of one of them and he's done stupid things in the past. I just hate to see them get away with profiting from Bud's death.
 

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