Get information on the status of my mother's estate

[tomtnc]

Sorry for the confusion, I am using this forum for the first time. My mother passed away last September. She had appointed my two sisters as her POA and Executors of her will. The problem is my sisters refuse to share any financial information about my mom. I have a copy of her will and am listed as a beneficiary. The estate should be pretty straight forward consisting of only a couple of bank accounts. I think I can request and accounting of my mother's estate. Not sure 1) What I need to do to legally execute this request and 2 ) what information I can expect to gain? My mother and sisters live in Virginia, thanks.

 

[Zigner]

You can write a letter asking for the financial accounting of the estate, but please be aware that, even for a "simple" estate, 3 months is a very short time to expect the estate to be finalized. Additionally, after all the debts are taken in to account, there may be nothing left in the estate.

 

[Zigner]

From the OP's earlier (incomplete) thread: "I am in North Carolina, my mother lived in Virginia."

 

[stealth2]

My Dad passed in August and we are STILL dealing w/financials.

 

[FlyingRon]

POA has no authority after death. An executor named in the will doesn't have any authority until the court appoints them (except in the case that the estate is small, less than $50,000). Any heir can start probate, but it takes the original copy of the will.

 

[adjusterjack]

Any heir can start probate, but it takes the original copy of the will.

I think you meant original of the will or original will.

A copy can't be an original.

 

[Dandy Don]

If your sisters have the original will, there must be some reason they have not begun probate. Probably because there are no assets left.

What you can do right now, if you know what county in Virginia she died in, is to look up online the court records for that county and do a search using your mother's name to see if any probate was done by your sisters. If probate was done, a court case file number will be shown and if you want to you can order a copy of all documents in the probate file to see how the estate was handled.

Most likely there has been no probate at all. If a probate was done, then you should have been notified about it as a potential beneficiary. If the bank account had designated beneficiaries, then the money in the accounts is payable directly to the beneficiaries and there would be no need for probate. I'll bet anything that your sisters as POA were smart enough to title the accounts with their names so that they could get the money. If there were no assets to be probated, there was no need for probate to be done.

You need to research online (or ask a family law attorney in Virginia) what family law requires in Virginia--does a POA have to provide an accounting or not.