Mothers Will Named Me as 1 od Beneficiaries But Have received Nothing

[Johnah35]

My mother left a will naming her 4 children as beneficiaries of all of her personal property. Her 2nd husband was named executor. One of my sisters went into the house aand removed all her personal property before the will was probated. I have not received anything. My mother died in North Carolina in 1999. Her will plainly stated share and share alike to be divided between the 4 of us. What legal rights do I have? Did she have the right to do what she did?

 

[advisor10]

MAY 9, 2001

DEAR JOHNAH35:

The sister did not have the right to take the property, since the executor is the only person with the legal authority to distribute the property, but the sister may not have known what the will said (which doesn't really make any difference).

It may be too late now to do anything, unless an inventory of the personal property was attached to the will. There is no way now of knowing exactly what was in the house and how much it was worth. The sister may have sold everything, but it is more likely that she retained some possessions from that house that are still identifiable.

Why have you all delayed until now about doing anything?
Ask the executor to get advice from a local attorney on how to go about claiming these items, since it is the executor's official responsibility to do this, although if he doesn't want to do it now, then I guess one or more of the 4 sisters could do it as well. Seems like this is more trouble than it's worth, unless the items were very valuable.

Did you sisters receive any monies or any other property from this estate or was the personal property the only thing you all were to get?

SINCERELY,

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