Is it too late to pursue my half of an estate?

[Junkman1970]

I am in NJ and am new here and looking for a little advise. My father passed away just over two years ago and had a small $35,000 estate from the sale of his house. By NJ law it was to go to me and my sister equally. A check during closing on his home was written to my sister (administrator) and then deposited in her personal account. I never recieved any money or check from her for the half due to me.I didn't push the issue because she was my sister, but was told I would get it. Then my sister passed back in April and her husband said after we burried her that he would square up on the money never given to me. Now he just passed and his daughters are selling everything including the house. Do I have any possibility of going after half of my father's estate that I was suppose to receive 2 years ago or is it too late? I am not sure I even wanted to pursue it, but his daughter from another marriage is not very friendly and tossed a bunch of our family pics and kept a bunch of my families heirlooms that I was promised to receive. Do I have any recourse. I have the original papers showing my sister was the administrator and I was to receive half. I think I may even have a copy of the check written to her at the sale of my father's property. I am just concerned that I am too late. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[LdiJ]

I am in NJ and am new here and looking for a little advise. My father passed away just over two years ago and had a small $35,000 estate from the sale of his house. By NJ law it was to go to me and my sister equally. A check during closing on his home was written to my sister (administrator) and then deposited in her personal account. I never recieved any money or check from her for the half due to me.I didn't push the issue because she was my sister, but was told I would get it. Then my sister passed back in April and her husband said after we burried her that he would square up on the money never given to me. Now he just passed and his daughters are selling everything including the house. Do I have any possibility of going after half of my father's estate that I was suppose to receive 2 years ago or is it too late? I am not sure I even wanted to pursue it, but his daughter from another marriage is not very friendly and tossed a bunch of our family pics and kept a bunch of my families heirlooms that I was promised to receive. Do I have any recourse. I have the original papers showing my sister was the administrator and I was to receive half. I think I may even have a copy of the check written to her at the sale of my father's property. I am just concerned that I am too late. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

In my own personal opinion I think that you would end up spending enough in legal fees to pursue this, to make it possibly worthless to pursue your half of the 35k. In addition, if your father had any debts at all, that 35k had to be used first to pay his debts.

You have a really complex situation that increased in complexity each time someone passed away. You should have pursued it while your sister was still alive.

 

[Junkman1970]

In my own personal opinion I think that you would end up spending enough in legal fees to pursue this, to make it possibly worthless to pursue your half of the 35k. In addition, if your father had any debts at all, that 35k had to be used first to pay his debts.

You have a really complex situation that increased in complexity each time someone passed away. You should have pursued it while your sister was still alive.

Thanks for the reply. I was also worried about any unknown debt from my father. If someone comes after the $35,000 Will I have to pay that half even though I never recieved it.Honestly it is more about family items promised to me then going after my half of my father's estate. His daughter has totally ignored our family. She even has my mothers and grandmothers rings which possibly by now pawned.I was hoping to use it for leverage if I could.

 

[LdiJ]

Thanks for the reply. I was also worried about any unknown debt from my father. If someone comes after the $35,000 Will I have to pay that half even though I never recieved it.Honestly it is more about family items promised to me then going after my half of my father's estate. His daughter has totally ignored our family. She even has my mothers and grandmothers rings which possibly by now pawned.I was hoping to use it for leverage if I could.

You cannot realistically use it for leverage unless you are willing to spend the money to get an attorney involved.

 

[Junkman1970]

You cannot realistically use it for leverage unless you are willing to spend the money to get an attorney involved.

Ok. But do I have a case at all if I wanted to pursue?

 

[adjusterjack]

Ok. But do I have a case at all if I wanted to pursue?

I don't think so. The money was distributed to your sister. Your case was against your sister. Nobody else did anything wrong to you. Who would you sue? The daughters? They weren't a party to the wrong done to you. Your sister's estate? That's all gone. You'd be suing an empty pot.

Consult an attorney if you like but I'm not holding out any hope for you, especially when you find out how much the attorney will want up front.

 

[justalayman]

How do,you sell the same house twice? You said it was sold when your fathers estate was probated and you state your nieces are selling it now. How?


There is a problem with your fathers probate. You should have been paid at that time, if you were due anything. If you were owed anything and your sister took it, you could have made a claim against her estate, or even sued her estate during probate of her estate. If you failed to act, you are likely barred from attempting to make a claim for the money now.

 

[HRZ]

I too am curious about your comment OP about now selling the house ??

IF Sisters estate was not properly probated it might be possible to file a technically timely claim and even seek administration of same ....but its think it's very impractical road . Odds are Sis deposited the funds in her personal account and her account may have been joint with husband and passed to him wo any administration.

You may also have a technically valid window to file a claim against her husbands estate for your monies ...but it may be equally impractical .

Others are correct that a claim raised too late is dead in the water ...but that's only true if the estate was administered and all the required public notices were published because absent same the time clock never started ....again a very impractical road to pursue unless you are a legal pro.

That said , if hubby just recently passed , I would present a written claim for the entire sum due me to his administrator / executor ...PROMPTLY with copies to every known heir of his ...it might just gum up the sale of the home sufficient that the administrator/executor gets you paid . IF his estate is being probated /administered then there must be a public record of who is appointed to do this work ....most likely at the county courthouse where he was a resident. Your claim is likely ahead of the heirs rights to proceeds . I'd probably make the same $$ written claim to sisters executor/administrator just to cover the point that I did seek collection. BTW check the court files for how Sis s estate was administered .

Sometimes a persistent intelligent noisy squeaky wheel gets greased even if all the facts are nowhere near correct

 

[Dandy Don]

At the very least you should be consulting with an attorney so he/she can evaluate the entire situation, including looking at the probate file, including an examination of whether sister did or did not follow through with having the deed changed to reflect the names of the new owners (presumably her and you) and whether her decision to use a personal account instead of opening an estate account was illegal in New Jersey, and whether an executor's bond was required to be purchased for that estate or whether bond was exempted. Your attorney may be able to go after the party who may have mistakenly written a check (for the sale of the home) to your sister's name only or to her as administrator, when they should have made the check payable to THE ESTATE OF YOUR FATHER'S NAME, unless it was made payable to the father's estate and her bank just went ahead and decided to deposit it without returning it to her and asking that she open a separate account just for the estate.

If possible you should visit the county courthouse surrogate court to look at the probate file just to see the paperwork on how she handled the estate.

 

[HRZ]

I would go look at all relevant probate/administration files first and the most recent deeds of record ...and make multiple copies of everything , First . The OPs time is probably far less costly than an attorney's time to do similar scavenger hunt...and those docuements are key starting points .

 

[HRZ]

ON the untested theory that funds Sis as administrator held for distribution to you were passed at her untimely death to her husband who apparently acknowledged to you the funds belonged to you ....I would file a prompt written sworn claim with his executor /administrator. following the steps set in NJ law..look it up....you have a bit more time under NJ recent law to do so, 9 months after date of his death ...but do NOT snooze , if you miss the deadline your leverage tumbles.

Please clarify how current home for sale relates to prior home sold for about $36,000...did Sis or her family supposedly buy the house from estate ?

 

[Junkman1970]

ON the untested theory that funds Sis as administrator held for distribution to you were passed at her untimely death to her husband who apparently acknowledged to you the funds belonged to you ....I would file a prompt written sworn claim with his executor /administrator. following the steps set in NJ law..look it up....you have a bit more time under NJ recent law to do so, 9 months after date of his death ...but do NOT snooze , if you miss the deadline your leverage tumbles.

Please clarify how current home for sale relates to prior home sold for about $36,000...did Sis or her family supposedly buy the house from estate ?

The current home for sale is from my sister's estate not my father's. My father's home was sold and entire check went into my sister's acount . She and her husband died and my half of my father's estate was never paid to me.

 

[HRZ]

Was sis home JTWROS with husband .. If so it passed outside of probate

Go get copies of everything that might matter ...and file a proper claim against husband s estate to pay you the funds it got re dads house

Nothing is going to happen unless you make it happen