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As far as a will goes.....ready to get complicated?
I have 2 brothers. Let's call the one I've mentioned already, Brother A.....both brothers claim to have seen Mom's will a few years back,
however neither claim to have been able to find it after she died. They both say Mom left Brother A as executor, but they both refuse to say how she divided up her estate per the will. My 16 year old niece was living with my mother when she died. Mom was sick and the morning of the day she died she told my niece where the will was in case she died that day. It was in a metal box. Brother A has-
took- that box after Mom died but claims no will was in it. No one has been allowed to look in the box except Brother A. Additionally, Brother A said he asked his lawyer-after Mom died- if he had to be executor if he didn't want to and his lawyer told him no (which is true, I know)
however, instead of getting someone else to be executor the will disappeared!..actually Bro A said they never did find it. I think Brother A got rid of the will because he liked the following scenerio better......
The day she died I was told they found an undated check in her purse for most of what was in her account made out to both brothers with a note that said she was doing it to avoid having to pay the creditors but that the money was supposed to go to take care of my niece if anything should happen to her. Brother A says there was such a check, but he did not cash it. Brother B says there was a check and they put the money in a trust fund in both their names until the creditors go away- they claim this will take one year- thereupon they intend to split it evenly as they now claim the note did not say to take care of my niece. So that's how they got the money out of her account as far as I know. They dated the check after she died -don't know what date they put on it- and opened a trust in both their names. The amount of the check was over $30,000. Brother A says they left $1000 in her account so the bill collectors could see there wasn't enough money to pay them and they'd go away.
Other answers....Mom did not own a house anymore. She had sold it a few months before she died and that's where the large amount of cash came from.
I do know where she did her banking.
Question....what information can I get from her bank without my being administrator?
I'd like to know if they legally took the money out and therefore if the trust fund is valid because without a will and if the check was not valid for some reason (perhaps because they put a date on it that reflected a day when she was still alive so they could cash the check) then I am entitled to my share. However,
if the check is valid then I can't argue for my share.
I don't trust the brothers to hand over my share after a year and I am told that I only have a year to make a claim for my share or else lose it. I can't afford the expense of a lawyer if I don't have any share coming to me in the first place. That's why I was hoping there was a way to force probate without my having to hire a lawyer or file to be administrator. (I explained in my other thread "Non-probated estate questions" that I was having trouble getting bonded due to the mess of the estate and I would have to put up my own collateral which I don't want to do if I don't have anything coming to me to start with.)
So now back to the main question....is there any way to take the brothers to court to force the estate into probate that does not involve me either hiring a lawyer or me becoming administrator?