My wife’s parents passed away leaving an estate that mainly consisted of a modest house, a car and a truck, and about $10K in cash after burial expenses. The will left the estate equally to their three kids. The youngest brother never married and was still living in the house with his mother when she passed away. All of the children are in their 40s and 50s.
Their father passed five years ago, and their mother passed three years ago. The estate was probably worth $190K at the time.
The older brother took the car, the younger brother took the truck and continues to live in the house. The $10K has been used to pay taxes, insurance, and upkeep on the house for the last three years and has ran out. My wife actually has no idea how the $10K was spent, since taxes and insurance should only come to about $2K per year.
Her older brother just hit her up for her share of property taxes and insurance for the coming year. She has gotten nothing from the estate other than a few personal items of her mother’s. There has never been a discussion of settling the estate or disposing of the property. When my wife has tried to discuss it with her older brother, he only says their mom would have wanted them to take care of their younger brother. Settling the estate has come up a few times in the last six months, but the brothers won’t even return her calls.
We know that the older brother went to the court house and filed the paperwork as executor. We also know the property is still listed in her parents names after three years, but the mailing address is listed as the older brother’s home.
What are her rights? Can the executor just sell or dispose of the vehicles as he sees fit? Or does he have to consult the other heirs? He also sold some property (a Ford tractor) at almost a give-away price to one of his wife’s relatives.
My wife is reluctant to hire an attorney, but I’ve told her she needs to force her brother to settle the estate. The will specifically leaves the property to equally to all three children, but doesn’t state that it has to be sold.
So, what are the duties of the executor, can he dispose of property as he sees fit? How long does he have to settle the estate? Can she demand an accounting of the finances? If he doesn’t cooperate, who does she discuss this with?
The younger brother is the black sheep of the family. His job doesn’t pay that well, he changes jobs regularly, and mostly blows his money. He says he was taking care of his mother until the end, but in reality she was taking care of him financially. He does not have the funds nor the credit to buy the house.
There are a few things that need clarifying.
1. To the best of my knowledge, the estsate has never been closed. The real estate is still in the deceased’s name (my wife’s parents).
2. I don’t know that the title to the vehicles have transferred either. The house insurance is still in the parent’s name. It’s very possible the car insurance is still in their names, and they are just driving the car.
What are the legal implications to my wife and I for leaving the estate open like that? I assume since she co-owns the house and land with the others, she could be liable for debts or any accidents on the property.
Will the court system follow through on it’s own to make sure the estate is settled? Or must someone complain first?
My wife seems unwilling to rock the boat, but is now upset that her brother is asking for money to pay her share of the taxes and insurance.
Since you sollicited my answer….I will address the answer to your wife not you…
I think the other four answers have it basically right. The exact procedure to follow may vary by state but your brother has failed to do his duty as executor, He has in fact distributed the estate, to himself and to your brother, allowed "wastage" of the estate, and failed to properly administer the estate, You will need to engage in legal process to get it fixed (if it can be fixed).
If things had not gone so far and so long I would have suggested a threat of legal action, telling him you want action and an accounting, but at this point I would guess by the time he got it done you’d be cheated significantly.
He is liable for his failures and it may cost him a lot now, but there is no way you can get your fair share without hiring an attorney,
A new executor will be appointed (possibly you; perhaps you’ll ask for someone neutral who will have to be paid a significant fee), will establish what has happened to the assets and what they were worth, what the remaining asset is worth, who has paid what, who has received what and how each of you gets one third. Very likely they will find that the brother living in the house got his third or close to it, the administrator is iiable for the lost assets which come out of his share, and the remainder is mostly yours, considering the housing market and the depreciation of house values in three years.
So that’s the easy part. The question here is, what do you want to accomplish in terms of family relationships? Are you willing on the one hand to let it lie, having been robbed of your inheritance? Are you willing to make a fuss but not hire a lawyer, lose a lot but perhaps pressure your brother into some action to sell the house and perhaps get inadequate compensation for the rest? In the end it might not be a big loss, but I can’t imagine you’ll get a lot of satisfaction.
Or do you want to create a lot of hard feelings and present him and your other brother with the consequences of their actions, which will probably include nothing for younger brother and a bill for older brother? I can’t tell you what to do in that sphere…
Oh and considering that you failed to act before this, do you bear any moral liability for your inaction that you are willing to sacrifice in real dollar terms? Why didn’t you ask your brother what he was planning a year or two ago?
