Estate atty not giving me my inheritance!

[Gettingrippedoff]

Yes. The estate attorney works for the estate. The estate attorney is liable to the executor and works at the direction of the executor. If they have been told to not respond to you, then they cannot respond to you. Your action is to speak with the executor.


Irrespective of that: the estate attorney does not control or have anything to do with the trust unless they are also hired to provide counsel for the trustee of the trust. That is an entirely separate issue.

That is true, but I can file a petition with the surrogate court and THEN THEY WILL HAVE TO RESPOND TO ME AND BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE! sorry for the caps. Not yelling at you - just making my point!

 

[justalayman]

Then it sounds like you need to hire your own attorney to push the issue.

 

[Gettingrippedoff]

The executor of the estate.

AND ALSO THE SURROGATE COURT!!!! or in otherwords - ME! I think that is right - I talked to the surrogate court and they told me I can file a petition. They had to leave early but they told me they would tell me more on Monday and that I could go in and they would give me the forms to file the petition!

 

[Gettingrippedoff]

Then it sounds like you need to hire your own attorney to push the issue.

What a shame- I have to PAY money to get the money I am rightfully owed. I will see what happens w the surrogate court first. Maybe I should post online how this atty is screwing me over. Maybe that would make him do his job? Although to post a name online - it has to be in the public interest or you can be sued. Hmm - would warning others about a shyster atty be in the public interest or not?

 

[Gettingrippedoff]

The estate attorney may not be the problem, as the executor has no direct legal authority to handle or manage trust affairs.. The problem may be your brother, the trustee, who has the authority to distribute the funds from the trust. Is there any reason you can think of (spite? his dislike of you?) why he would deliberately want to delay paying you and other beneficiaries what is rightfully theirs? There supposedly will be specific instructions in the trust on what his duties are and he must follow those instructions as specifically as he can. Do you have a copy of the trust document that would explain when the payments to beneficiaries are to be made? If you do not have a copy of the trust, ask a trust attorney if New York law requires you to request (in writing) a copy of the trust from the trustee.

The executor and/or the trustee will need to look at exactly how the accounts are titled to determine whether the accounts belong to the trust or to the estate. If the accounts are titled to the trust, then the trustee is responsible for claiming those accounts.

Look at the trust to see if it requires that a trustee's bond be purchased or whether the trustee bond is exempted/not required.

Get an attorney to consult with/ask your questions. Have your attorney send the trustee a letter asking when can the beneficiaries reasonably expect to be paid and see how the trustee responds.

Thanks for your help! The accounts are in name of the trust - NOT the estate. I know that for sure!

 

[justalayman]

I would not recommend you post anything about the attorney that you cannot prove. A defamation suit where the plaintiff knows you are expecting a large sum of money might be an interesting prospect

 

[Gettingrippedoff]

The estate attorney may not be the problem, as the executor has no direct legal authority to handle or manage trust affairs.. The problem may be your brother, the trustee, who has the authority to distribute the funds from the trust. Is there any reason you can think of (spite? his dislike of you?) why he would deliberately want to delay paying you and other beneficiaries what is rightfully theirs? There supposedly will be specific instructions in the trust on what his duties are and he must follow those instructions as specifically as he can. Do you have a copy of the trust document that would explain when the payments to beneficiaries are to be made? If you do not have a copy of the trust, ask a trust attorney if New York law requires you to request (in writing) a copy of the trust from the trustee.

The executor and/or the trustee will need to look at exactly how the accounts are titled to determine whether the accounts belong to the trust or to the estate. If the accounts are titled to the trust, then the trustee is responsible for claiming those accounts.

Look at the trust to see if it requires that a trustee's bond be purchased or whether the trustee bond is exempted/not required.

Get an attorney to consult with/ask your questions. Have your attorney send the trustee a letter asking when can the beneficiaries reasonably expect to be paid and see how the trustee responds.

Thanks. I have the trust papers and have read them. There is no bond required. My brother is appointed executor and trustee. The trust papers simply state the money is to be distributed equally among the benefiairies. It does not set a deadline. My brother is one of the beneficiaries.

My brother is either stupid and did not know he could simply redeem the money himself, or he's lazy and didn't want to do the measly 5 hours of paperwork to fill out the redemption papers on the 10 accounts. My brother is rich and is in no need of this money so he probably could care less how long it takes. I on the otherhand, need the money to buy a house and now have been stranded for 8 months waiting for my rightful inheritance. All due respect to atty's but I think also the atty may have simply duped my brother into thinking he (the atty) was the one who had to redeem the financial accounts since he (the atty) was involved in setting the trust up.

 

[Gettingrippedoff]

I would not recommend you post anything about the attorney that you cannot prove. A defamation suit where the plaintiff knows you are expecting a large sum of money might be an interesting prospect

Thanks. I would make sure of everything first and not post anything not provable. Here is a fact I could post. "I inherited a large sum of money and 8 months later - the atty who was redeeming the money - still had not filed paperwork to redeem some of the accounts and held up disbursing any of the money and said no money could be distributed until ALL of the money was collected. He did not return various phone calls and emails". Yes - I have documentation proving the unreturned emails and phone calls.

The question is - is posting the name of the atty publicly - serving a public good? I read where to post a name - it has to somehow serve the public interest/good. I would think letting people know about a lousy atty (present company excluded - all due respect) is in the public interest.

 

[Gettingrippedoff]

Thanks for all the help and replies! It's helped. Here is what I have learned. My brother should have just redeemed the accounts himself instead of having the atty do it and so I get the short end of the stick and in atty world - (present company excluded- all due respect) it's fine and dandy to string a customer out for over 8 months and neglecting and not doing your duty.

 

[justalayman]

You do not know the details thst would allow you to post the statement that implies he is incompetent or doing something wrong. Maybe your brother is the problem and not the attorney. It is rarely a good idea to do what you are suggesting.

 

[Dandy Don]

Is probate officially finished (is the estate closed) or are probate proceedings still ongoing?

I understand your extreme frustration at how you are being treated, but filing a complaint through the surrogate court is not the way to resolve this. The court employees who told you they would give you forms are violating ethical court procedure--they should have told you that they are not allowed to give legal advice and that you should consult with an attorney. Whether probate is finished or not, the surrogate court is NOT where you need to be, since the trust is handled/managed/and administered outside of and independently of the surrogate court. I strongly urge you to get your own trust attorney to ask if you need to file a civil suit against the trustee, so that your case can be defended and heard properly before a different court.

In my opinion--and this is sheer speculation--there could be problems (with these accounts) that have not yet been discovered. Is it possible that your brother and/or the estate attorney have somehow already gotten access to this money without your knowledge and may have stolen some or all of it and don't want you to find out? There is a reason that he does not want to give you what is rightfully yours, but no one yet seems to know what the reason is. Have you ever asked him verbally what is the reason that he has not begun the process to claim these funds and has he ever given you an answer?

This is NOT a do-it-yourself process if you want to have a favorable outcome!

Your trust attorney can have your brother brought into court to have him explain before the judge exactly why he has not made the distribution to you and to the other beneficiaries. His behavior might even be considered as a breach of fiduciary duty and he will face serious consequences for not properly performing his trustee duties in timely fashion.

 

[Gettingrippedoff]

You do not know the details thst would allow you to post the statement that implies he is incompetent or doing something wrong. Maybe your brother is the problem and not the attorney. It is rarely a good idea to do what you are suggesting.

I absolutely do know that it's a straighforward trust - that avoids probate and all that has to be done is to fill out one form per account that takes only 15 minutes and send it in with the death certificate and trust verification. I am not IMPLYING I am flat out stating THE ATTY IS INCOMPETENT, LAZY OR JUST DOING THIS TO GOUGE US ON THE FEES!!!

YOU are the one who does not know any details and therefore it is YOUR post here that is out of line! I know when I am being screwed by the atty and I know for a fact that he's incompetent, lazy or simply doing this to run up fees on us!!!

Am I clear on that?

 

[Gettingrippedoff]

You do not know the details thst would allow you to post the statement that implies he is incompetent or doing something wrong. Maybe your brother is the problem and not the attorney. It is rarely a good idea to do what you are suggesting.

I thought I stated that my brother is ALSO guilty of being a doofus and not pressing the atty and letting the atty drag his feet and for not filling out he paperwork himself. But that does not mean that the atty is also not the problem too.

Trust me - if it was your money - you would feel the same as I do and not be defending incompetency and malfeasance

 

[Gettingrippedoff]

Why would you assume I don't know the deta

You do not know the details thst would allow you to post the statement that implies he is incompetent or doing something wrong. Maybe your brother is the problem and not the attorney. It is rarely a good idea to do what you are suggesting.

ils

You do not know the details thst would allow you to post the statement that implies he is incompetent or doing something wrong. Maybe your brother is the problem and not the attorney. It is rarely a good idea to do what you are suggesting.

Rubbish! Why would you assume I don't know the details? Hogwash! I KNOW ENOUGH DETAILS TO KNOW THE ATTY IS LAZY AND OR STRINGING US OUT TO GOUGE US ON FEES!

 

[Gettingrippedoff]

You do not know the details thst would allow you to post the statement that implies he is incompetent or doing something wrong. Maybe your brother is the problem and not the attorney. It is rarely a good idea to do what you are suggesting.

YOU are the one who does not know the details! I KNOW THE DETAILS!