Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
Hello. My mother passed away recently leaving 5 grown children, no spouse and no will. She lived in California. As 3 of my siblings were unable to make any decisions regarding her estate (one is incarcerated,one is institutionalized and one a severe alcholic) my sister and I decided that since she lived closer, she would be the executor and I would help her as best I could. My mother had a small estate and her house had a reverse mortgage so we didn't even consider that as part of the estate. My sister asked about keeping the couch and other small furniture for herself, my brother asked for my mothers tools and so she said she had put those aside and we agreed to try and sell the piano. Other then that I was unable to get ahold of my sister for weeks. I finally was able to get keys for the house from my brother in law and was told that pretty much everything was out except for what was to be sold and divided up. When I made it to the house there were a few boxes marked yard sale. Everything of value was gone including all her jewelry,tvs,computer,recent bank papers and a vehicle that was paid off. I did sell the yard sale stuff which I kept an inventory of and sold for $270 and divided between my other 3 siblings. I also found out from the bank that my mother had 2 life insurance policies that she listed my sister as beneficiary on. My question is, is what she did legal by keeping everything of value in the home, and was she not supposed to take that money from the life insurance policies and divide it 5 ways? And do I have some sort of legal recourse on behalf of my other 3 siblings? When I asked her about them, she said it was left to her and that was it. She also stated she was just to upset by our mothers passing to deal with any of it right now but it's been 7 months.Thank you for any information
3 Answers from Attorneys
This question has a number of parts to it. First, all of your mother's belongings that you mention, excluding the life insurance policies would be part of her estate. The life insurance policies would pass outside of the estate to the beneficiaries listed on the policy. If your sister was listed, then she would receive the proceeds.
With respect to her estate, an executor would need to be appointed. If there was no will, it sounds like you may need to initiate probate proceedings. If you have not already done so, it would likely best suit you to speak to an attorney to discuss what needs to be done with the estate. Keep in mind, mishandling an estate can have adverse consequences if other beneficiaries were to challenge the administration. I would suggest you seek legal counsel as soon as possible.
Good luck!
To clarify Mr. Reid's comment, since your mother owned real property presumably with a gross value (not equity value) over $20,000, than a probate proceeding would have to be filed to access the bank accounts or handle the house. The only way to avoid probate is to have the real property titled in the name of a trust. Filing for probate is not contingent on a will being in existence.
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