A relative passed away January 2007. Her will was in the process of being changed when she passed which caused a bit of a hiccup. She did not have a savings, but was counting on money received from the sale of her home to be given out to the people listed in her will. Her home was put up for sale and once sold, the proceeds were used to pay off her home related expenses up to that date and the rest was to be divided between the legatees listed on the will. There was not enough money to give everyone what she wanted so the ones who were at the top of the list were safe, those on the bottom were excluded.
This all took about 2 years to come to this point, and her home was sold October of 2008. June of 2009 lawyer sent letters to original people in the will asking if they wanted to split the will into percentages, so that everyone listed in the will could get some money, even if it wasn't the original amount. All legatees involved agreed, sent signed papers into lawyer as he gave a deadline as mid July. Papers were supposedly filed in court and as long as judge agreed, the funds would then be given out by attorney's office. No word comes from attorney. Call was placed in September 2009 asking for update. We were told court was backlogged by 2 months and it should be "any day". Still no word from attorney so we called again in October. And again in November. Both times given the same answer "I have no idea why it's taking this long. Should be any day" Called the week of December 6th 2009. "It's on the judges desk we saw it when we were there. It should be any time now". Got word another legatee called the week after that to see what was going on as attorney's office had not been keeping anyone in the loop as to the status. He was told that the judge was heavily involved in a theft case and probably won't be getting to this until sometime in February 2010. Judges can only handle one thing at a time?
I really find the run around we have been given very fishy. We are calling the ACAP this week to have the office investigated as we keep getting told one excuse after another. Is it normal for a case like this to take 3 years? I can't imagine a judge would be so involved in a case that they cannot attend to any other pending matters put in his charge. also- what type of account has this money been held in? Is it required to collect interest? If so, who gets it, the attorney or the people named in the will? There has been no mention of that. There was also $800 cash given to attorney that the decedent's sister found in her home. This money has not been accounted for in any paperwork we have seen. Isn't that stealing? I would think it should have been listed under the assets in the will, right?
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Acceptable length of time to execute will
I am not sure I understand. In order for a Will to be effective, it must be executed in strict compliance with a set of very structured requirements. So if the Will was never finalized and executed, it does not really matter what it provides. You would either use the Will that the decedent executed last, or if there was no prior Will then the decedent would have died intestate – meaning that the probate assets will be distributed in accordance with the laws of intestacy (generally to the decedent’s closest then living blood relatives).
Assuming that there is a Will, then there is a very specific set of rules that must be followed with regard to the proper order in which beneficiaries take - residual legatees would all take a proportionate haircut, but different classes of legatees would not necessarily do so. It can be tricky and a lot of caution is indicated.
The Court does not generally get involved with the distribution specifics, except when the executor files the Account and requests its allowance. Not sure if there is some special process that the attorney decided to utilize to protect the executor (such as a petition for instruction).
Seems like I have more questions than answers. I can, however, confirm that the Probate Court and the court personnel in almost every county are completely swamped. We have been routinely waiting three months for things that used to take a week or two. I know that it does not make sense that the judge could not take a moment of time to address your particular issue - but the problem is that there are literally a thousand people in queue with you waiting for "just a moment" of the judge's time.
With regard to the $800 - I am not sure but it sounds like the sister found the money and gave it to the attorney? Then absolutely, it should be an asset of the estate. My guess is that the $800 was either put into the estate checking account, or the attorney applied the $800 against the professional fees. In any case, you should be able to "account" for the $800 with very little effort.
As you may have read on this site before, the estate administration process is supposed to be very open and transparent. If you are a beneficiary of the estate, then you have certain rights. Your frustration is understandable, but I am not sure what steps you have already taken: Have you talked about your concerns with the executor? Maybe ask the executor for permission to speak directly to the attorney handling the estate? Have you thought about consulting with an attorney to review the situation? Although I do not usually recommend this – perhaps speaking to the court personnel would help?
Sorry I cannot provide much in the way of specific guidance.
Peter
Probate issues
In supplement to the other comment, GET PRO-ACTIVE. You do not need to sit back and wait for things to be done for/to you. You need to take charge of your own money, which the inheritance will become when recieved and look into it now. If the Attorney is not responsive, investigate. It is very simple. Drive to the Registry of Probate aka Probate Court where the estate filings were made. If you don't know where this is, find what county your relative lived in (call the town hall if necessary) and look in the phone book or on line for the probate court house for that county. Go there and ask the counter personnel to assist you in finding the case. Look at the papers filed. If you don't know what they mean, then have copies made and make an appoinment with a lawyer to review the same. Get copies of the docket sheets (ask the clerk if you don't know what this is) and bring them to the appointment. Most lawyers will meet with you and review the paper work for an half hour or so for no charge, (ask about this before booking the appoinment to be sure). By the time you are done, you will have a much better idea of the status. It is your right to be informed. Exercise that right.
Attorney Kevin Gaughen Sr.
update
The attorney was named executor if that makes a difference.
The cash was never documented in the copies he sent us of the sale of the home, bills that were paid from sale money and what was left over and "divied" up between the legatees.
The ACAP did call the office and he immediately sent out a letter stating that the papers have been filed and they are waiting for the ok from the judge for the attorney to disperse the funds. It's sad that we had to report him just to get a direct answer. By the time this is settled it will have taken 3 years. What a mess!